At Least Five Dead In Oklahoma From Deadly Midwest Tornado

A tornado moves on the ground north of Solomon, Kan., on Saturday evening, April 14, 2012, with I-70 seen in the foreground. ((The Hutchinson News, Sandra J. Milburn/AP Photo))

By: Andrea Ryan

So sad.  At least five people have died in Oklahoma and 29 others have been injured in a deadly tornado that stormed through the Midwest this weekend.  And the Midwest may be in for more severe weather today.

According to Fox News,

Tornadoes raking communities across the Midwest and Plains left five people dead and at least 29 injured in Oklahoma, damaging a hospital, homes and other buildings as a vast severe weather front plunged eastward Sunday across the nation’s midsection.

Oklahoma emergency officials said five people died after a tornado touched down at 12:18 a.m. Sunday in and around the northwest Oklahoma town of Woodward, the high winds damaging homes, toppling trees and downing power lines about 140 miles northwest of Oklahoma City. The brunt of the damage was reported on the west side of the town of about 12,000 and its outskirts, where search teams scoured the rubble for hours for any still trapped or injured.

Storms also were reported in Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska as a wide-ranging storm system lumbered its way across the nation’s midsection Saturday and Sunday. Lightning, large hail and heavy downpours accompanied the system, which was so large that it still posed a severe weather threat from Minnnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan in the north to eastern Texas and Louisiana hundreds of miles to the south.

Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management spokeswoman Keli Cain said the state medical examiner’s office confirmed five fatalities in the Woodward area early Sunday. She said she didn’t know the gender or age of the victims or details of their deaths but several homes were damaged. More than 8,000 customers were without power in the region.

Dave Wallace, chief executive officer of Woodward Regional Hospital, said 29 people, five of them in critical condition, were brought to the hospital for treatment of injuries ranging fractures and serious injuries to cuts and bruises. Three patients have been transferred to other hospitals and four were admitted, he added.

 

Thanks for sharing!