Tornadoes hit Plains, Midwest; 1 dead in Okla.
A tornado that hit Oklahoma late Sunday did heavy damage to the town of Shawnee. Reports of injuries could not immediately be confirmed. (May 19)
The severe storms are expected to linger into the beginning of the workweek.
Severe storms roared through the Plains and Midwest on Sunday, spawning tornadoes that damaged buildings, ripped off roofs and tossed big trucks like toys in Oklahoma. At least one person has died and several people were injured across the state, officials said.
Pottawatomie County Sheriff Mike Booth said a tornado that severely damaged a mobile home park in Oklahoma killed a 79-year-old man whose body was found in an open area of the neighborhood.
Booth also said that six people who lived in the mobile home park outside Oklahoma City were injured. Between 30 and 35 homes had significant damage, and number of frame homes in the neighborhood also sustained damage.
Separately, Keli Cain, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management, told the Associated Press earlier that 21 people were injured across Oklahoma, not including those who suffered bumps and bruises and chose not to visit a hospital.
The storms were part of a severe weather outbreak that stretched from Texas to Minnesota. Twisters were also reported Sunday in Iowa and Kansas.
Interstate 40 was closed by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol after winds overturned semi-tractor trailer trucks and other vehicles, Newsok.com reported.
KFOR-TV showed footage of homes damaged and cars and trucks flipped from highways near Shawnee, Okla. Other video showed flashes from electrical transformers blowing out as they were hit by high winds or debris from the tornado near Edmond.
Sedgwick County, Kan., emergency management director Randy Duncan says officials are grateful for few reports of damage from a tornado that touched down near Wichita Mid-Continent Airport. He told CNN the area emerged “relatively unscathed.”
Tornado watches were posted from Oklahoma to southern Minnesota. Forecasters had been warning for days that severe storms were likely across the region.
“I knew it was coming,” said Randy Grau, who huddled with his wife and two young boys in their Edmond’s home when the tornado hit. He said he peered out his window as the weather worsened and believed he saw a flock of birds heading down the street. “Then I realized it was swirling debris.”
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