Tornadoes leave path of destruction after sweeping across US states
Tornadoes killed four people in Oklahoma and left thousands without power after a destructive outbreak of severe weather flattened buildings in the heart of one rural town and injured at least 100 people across the US mid-western state.
More than 20,000 people remained without electricity after tornadoes began last Saturday.
The destruction was extensive in Sulphur, a town of about 5000 people, where a tornado crumpled many downtown buildings, tossed cars and buses and sheared the roofs off houses across a 15-block radius.
Stitt said about 30 people were injured alone in Sulphur, including some who were in a bar as the tornado struck. Hospitals across the state reported about 100 injuries, including people apparently cut or struck by debris or hurt from falls, according to the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management.
"You just can't believe the destruction," Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt said during a visit to the hard-hit town.
"It seems like every business downtown has been destroyed."
Authorities said the tornado in Sulphur began in a city park before barrelling through the downtown, flipping cars and ripping the roofs and walls off of brick buildings. Windows and doors were blown out of structures that remained standing.
"How do you rebuild it? This is complete devastation," said Kelly Trussell, a lifelong Sulphur resident as she surveyed the damage.
"It is crazy, you want to help but where do you start?"
Farther north, a tornado near the town of Holdenville killed two people and damaged or destroyed more than a dozen homes, according to the Hughes County Emergency Medical Service. Another person was killed along Interstate 35 near the southern Oklahoma city of Marietta, state officials said.
At the Sulphur High School gym, where families took cover from the storm, people told of how the tornado began.
Chad Smith, 43, said people ran into the gym as the wind picked up. The rain started coming faster and the doors slammed shut.
"Just give me a beer and a lawn chair and I will sit outside and watch it," Smith said. Instead, he took cover.
Residents in other states were also digging out from storm damage. This tornado in suburban Omaha, Nebraska, demolished homes and businesses as it moved for kilometres through farmland then slammed an Iowa town.
One or possibly two tornadoes spent around an hour creeping toward Omaha, leaving behind damage consistent with an EF3 twister, with winds of up to 265km/p/h, said Chris Franks, a meteorologist in the National Weather Service's Omaha office.
Share a tip-off, video or photo with us
