NEW DELHI: Dozens of tornadoes hit Oklahoma on Saturday night leaving at least 4 dead, including an infant, and hundreds injured.
Over 20,000 people were without power hours after tornadoes struck late Saturday night. The damage was substantial in Sulphur, a town of roughly 5,000 people, when a tornado crumpled numerous downtown buildings, flung cars and buses, and chopped roofs off houses within a 15-block radius.
“You just can’t believe the destruction,” Oklahoma governor Kevin Stitt said on his visit to Oklahoma.
“It seems like every business downtown has been destroyed,” he added.
Giving her account of tornadoes, Kelly Trussell, a Sulphur resident said, “How do you rebuild it? This is complete devastation. It is crazy, you want to help but where do you start?”
Carolyn Goodman, who was on a look out for her sister-in-law said, “The bar was destroyed. I know they probably won’t find her alive … but I hope she is still alive.”
Oklahoma governor has issued an executive order declaring a state of emergency in 12 counties as a result of the aftermath of the severe weather. Rescue teams were engaged in clearing debris and evaluating the damage caused by the intense storms that knocked down power lines.
The tornado damage began on Friday afternoon close to Lincoln, Nebraska. An industrial structure in Lancaster County was struck, resulting in its collapse with seventy individuals present inside. Although some individuals were initially trapped, all were successfully evacuated, and the three reported injuries were not deemed life-threatening according to officials.
Subsequently, one or potentially two tornadoes then spent around an hour creeping toward Omaha, leaving behind damage consistent with an EF3 twister, with winds of 135 to 165 mph, said Chris Franks, a meteorologist in the National Weather Service’s Omaha office.
Eventually, the tornado struck the Elkhorn neighborhood in western Omaha, a city with a population of 485,000 individuals and a metropolitan-area population of around 1 million.





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