Families try to salvage items from toppled homes after tornadoes tear through Okla., killing 5

Violent tornadoes tear through Okla., killing 5

SEMINOLE, Okla. — Families picked through broken furniture and dented appliances outside their toppled homes on Tuesday as garbage trucks scooped up mattresses and other debris left over from violent storms that tore through the southern Plains, killing five people and injuring dozens.

Several tornadoes were reported in Oklahoma and Kansas as Monday’s storms moved through the area, dumping hail as big as softballs, splintering homes and downing hundreds of power lines. More storms were possible Tuesday night.

Oklahoma City Deputy Fire Chief Cecil Clay refused to rule out the possibility of finding more dead but said conditions were tough for rescue workers Tuesday.

“We have heavy fog (and) power lines down making it difficult to see all the hazards out there,” he said.

The line of storms swept through Kansas and into Oklahoma Monday evening, leveling houses and flipping cars. Forecasters using advanced technology, fueled by supercomputers crunching atmospheric data, began predicting the severe weather last week.

Two people were killed in Oklahoma City — including a young boy hit by debris in his home and a man whose recreational vehicle flipped over on top of him — and three in Cleveland County, south of the city, officials said. At least 58 others were injured — two of them critically.

Near Seminole, about 60 miles east of Oklahoma City, at least two homes were leveled after a tornado tore through the area, Emergency Management Director Ernie Willis said. The town’s airport suffered extensive damage and several planes were destroyed, he said.

On Tuesday, uprooted trees lay cracked in half, and the faint smell of cedar drifted through the air. Utility poles were down, lining parts of Oklahoma 99, and pickup trucks carted away damaged mattresses and other items. The Varnum School District near Seminole also said it would be closed for the rest of the week — and possibly the rest of the school year — after the tornado destroyed a pre-kindergarten building and damaged other parts of the campus, Superintended John Sheridan said.

Siblings Maria and Alejandro Martinez sifted through debris at the site where their mobile home had stood. The storm had blown it off of its foundation and threw it 50 feet away, scattering their furniture, appliances and other household items around the yard.

Alejandro, 14, said the family was inside their home when it started moving Monday evening. They were thrown from the home and suffered cuts and bruises. Their father, who also was at home, had a broken arm, they said.

“It started shaking and the lights went out,” Maria, 12, said.

Nearby, Yolanda Suarez and her relatives tried to salvage what they could from the wreckage. Appliances — including a washer, dryer and refrigerator — sat exposed on one of her mobile home after the storm tore off its roof and knocked down walls.

The only part of the home left standing was the bedroom Suarez hid in.

“She just ran into the room. She didn’t want to leave. She thought it was more dangerous to leave than to stay inside,” said her relative Victor Rodriguez.

Authorities urged residents to stay off the roads in affected areas to allow rescue workers to search for survivors among the wreckage of their homes. They said they didn’t immediately know of anyone who was unaccounted for.

“I haven’t heard of anybody in particular. They’re just trying to make sure there’s not anybody trapped or stuck in there,” said Dan Cary, the emergency management director for Cleveland County.

In Norman — Cleveland County’s largest city with about 106,000 residents — Tim Tegeler checked out the damage to his windows, air conditioner and fence at his home. Tegeler, his wife, their daughters and their pet fish had taken shelter in their laundry room until the storms passed.

“We saw it coming, but the best thing is my family’s fine,” Tegeler said.

More thunderstorms were expected Tuesday, but they were not predicted to be as severe, said meteorologist Ty Judd with the National Weather Service.

“We’re not looking at what we saw yesterday,” Judd said. He said a preliminary estimate counted 10 tornado touchdowns in Oklahoma Monday.

Gov. Brad Henry declared a state of emergency in 56 Oklahoma counties. He and U.S. Reps. Tom Cole and Mary Fallin were scheduled to tour damaged areas in central Oklahoma.

In Kansas, the most serious damage was reported in Belmont, west of Wichita, where several homes were hit and there were widespread power outages. But no injuries were reported.

In Alfalfa County, Sheriff Charlie Tucker said baseball-sized hail broke the windshields of numerous cars and damaged homes.

“I came home once to look at my own personal vehicle and the windshield was all bashed out. The grandchildren’s swing set was up and now it’s gone, so there was straight-line winds that came through,” Tucker said.

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Associated Press Writer Ken Miller in Oklahoma City contributed to this report.