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Rescue workers search rubble after tornado kills 8 in Oklahoma
2009-02-12
CHICAGO (AFP) - Rescue workers on Wednesday dug through the wreckage left by a powerful tornado that killed at least eight people as it tore through a small town in Oklahoma. Several survivors were found trapped in homes flattened by the out-of-season twister which was almost half a mile (a kilometer) across, local media reported. "There's nothing left ... twisted metal, cars turned upside down, cars in trees," Oklahoma highway patrol trooper Bryant Harris, who lives in the devastated hamlet of Lone Grove, told the Tulsa World newspaper. One young woman was nearly sucked through the roof of a house as she huddled inside a closet with seven other people, who grabbed onto her and pulled her to safety. "My daughter was standing here trying to hold the door when all of a sudden she started rising," a shaken Laura Hartman told a News 9 television crew. The twister ripped through the town of 5,200 shortly before 7:30 pm Tuesday (0130 GMT Wednesday), one of at least five that touched down in Oklahoma, Texas and Missouri, officials said. Hail the size of baseballs also was dumped by the massive storm, which was moving east on Wednesday. The National Weather Service issued tornado watches in eight states. Reports initially said 15 people were killed, but the Oklahoma governor's office told AFP only eight fatalities had been confirmed. The national guard was called in to assist with search and rescue operations early Wednesday, the spokesman added. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Lone Grove and all of the other Oklahoma communities that have been impacted by the latest wave of severe weather," Governor Brad Henry said in a statement. "We know we have lost many lives in Lone Grove and we pray the losses do not rise any higher." Forecasters said the twisters barreling through the famed "Tornado Alley" have come earlier than usual this year, fueled by unusually warm, wet weather. "It's February, but we're going to treat it like May," said Mike Foster, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service's Norman, Oklahoma office, speaking to local media. Television networks showed images of roofs torn off homes and buildings reduced to rubble by the storms' devastating winds which knocked down trees and snapped power lines, leaving 29,000 people in the dark. Rescue workers in Lone Grove were forced to suspend their search for survivors shortly after 1:00 am (0700 GMT) Wednesday because they did not have enough lights or manpower to safely work through the jagged metal and livewires hidden in rubble and debris. "It's just too dangerous," Sheriff Ken Grace told The Oklahoman newspaper. "We don't need to be adding any more injuries to what we already have." Another tornado struck near the state's main city of Oklahoma City, forcing diners and employees of a Mexican restaurant to huddle in the walk-in freezer as the building around them rattled. "It was just unbelievable that something could come that quick," said Andrea Stephens, who emerged to find her van dented and shards of glass wedged into her seats. In the town of Edmond, a tornado destroyed an auto body shop shortly after the manager left for the day. "It's just surreal," Michael Jerry told the daily. "The steel girders are in a ball."
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