9 killed in Oklahoma tornadoes
Posted June 1, 2013 11:37 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A series of tornadoes in Oklahoma killed at least nine people and left a large swath of damage across parts of the state.
Powerful thunderstorms across Oklahoma produced multiple tornadoes and widespread flooding in Oklahoma City on Friday.
The twisters killed nine people in central Oklahoma, including a mother and her baby and menaced Oklahoma City and its hard-hit suburb of Moore, before the storm system tracked northeast early on Saturday.
The National Weather Service said the severe weather threat would shift into neighboring Illinois and Missouri, where Gov. Jay Nixon declared a state of emergency on Friday.
The tornadoes struck just 11 days after a twister ranked as EF5, the most powerful ranking possible, tore through Moore, and killed 24 people.
The mother and baby were killed on Friday while travelling on Interstate 40, just west of Oklahoma City, when their vehicle was picked up by the storm and they were sucked out of it, according to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.
The interstate was shut down with multiple crashes and injuries.
More than 40 people were being treated for storm-related injuries, including five in critical condition, among them a child, according to the Oklahoma-based Integris Health hospital system.
Meteorologists had earlier declared a tornado emergency for parts of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, and at one point they posted a tornado warning for Moore.
Moore had limited damage from the latest storm activity, said a local police dispatcher.
Another tornado rampaged down Interstate 40 toward Oklahoma City, tipping over trucks and hurling hay bales, a witness said. Television images showed downed power lines and tossed cars as the storm systems dumped at least three inches of rain, stranding motorists in flood water.