Two Dead After Tornadoes Strike Across Oklahoma

 

At least two people have been killed after a series of tornadoes destroyed homes and overturned vehicles across Oklahoma.

Forecasters declared a "tornado emergency" for communities in the path of one of the twisters, warning residents in the tiny towns of Roff and Hickory that flying debris would be deadly outside shelters.

Garvin County officials said a man in his late 70s died when a tornado hit a home near Wynnewood, south of Oklahoma City.


In Johnston County, the sheriff's office said a man was killed by another tornado near Connerville.

Footage of a small twister showed it barrelling its way through a sparsely populated rural area, bringing hail stones the size of tennis balls.

The Oklahoma Office of Emergency Management reported storms destroyed a radio station building in Coal County and several homes in Murray, Garvin and Johnston counties.

The bad weather is expected to move towards the Ohio and Tennessee valleys on Tuesday, according to forecasters, while a second storm system could reach north Texas on Wednesday.

Interstate 35 near Wynnewood was temporarily closed on Monday so the storms could pass.

Dana Lance, who was driving through Roff on her way home from work, took shelter after the tornado sirens sounded on Monday.

She said: "I parked and went into the school, which has a safe room.
"There were kids and elderly people, dogs and cats, babies. It was like the whole town was there."

The National Weather Service said a tornado touched down in central Iowa and another hit near Nehawka, Nebraska.

Sandy Weyers, the director of the Cass County Emergency Management office in Nebraska, said one person was unable to get inside his house when a tornado struck, so clung on to a tree and "rode it out".

He said the man suffered cuts and bruises, but his home was destroyed.