Nearly 100 tornadoes raked across the central United States, leaving five people dead and at least 29 injured Sunday in Oklahoma alone. Twisters ripped up homes, a hospital and cut power to hundreds of thousands of people.
Forecasters warned that more tornadoes from the violent storm system were possible before the day was over across a swath that stretched hundreds of miles from southern Texas to northern Michigan.
Oklahoma emergency officials said five people died after a tornado touched down at 12:18 a.m. Sunday in the northwest Oklahoma town of Woodward, home to 12,000 people. Search teams were scouring the debris for the trapped and injured as the sun came up.
The storms were part of an exceptionally strong system that the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma had warned about for days. The center took the unusual step of warning people more than 24 hours in advance of the danger to life.
At the storm's height, tornadoes popped up faster than they could be tallied. The center's spokesman, Chris Vaccaro, said it had received at least 97 reports of tornadoes by dawn Sunday. He warned the threat wasn't over for people in several states in the nation's interior.
The outbreak began when tornado sirens went off before dawn in Oklahoma City on Saturday. As the wide-ranging storm system lumbered across the nation, storms also were reported in Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska, accompanied by lightning, large hail and heavy downpours.
Woodward Mayor Roscoe Hill said warning sirens sounded loudly Saturday afternoon when storms rumbled through but he didn't hear the sirens go off for Sunday's tornado. He said the tornado struck homes and businesses.
The American Red Cross summoned volunteers to drive relief trucks from Oklahoma City to aid the rescue crews in and around Woodward.
``They're in chaos mode,'' said Rusty Surette, a regional communications director for the American Red Cross in Oklahoma City.
He said trucks with cots, food, water and medical and hygiene supplies would head to the area, where a shelter was established in a church for those rendered homeless. More than 8,000 people were without power.
Dave Wallace, chief executive officer of Woodward Regional Hospital, said 29 people, five of them in critical condition, were brought to the hospital, some with fractures and serious injuries. Three patients had to be transferred to other hospitals.
``We transferred them to a hospital with a higher level of care,'' Wallace said. ``We're not a trauma center.''
At least 10 tornadoes were reported in Kansas, mostly in rural western and central sections. A tornado in Wichita late Saturday night caused damage at the McConnell Air Force Base and the Spirit AeroSystems and Boeing plants. A mobile home park was also heavily damaged.
The county where Wichita is located was declared a state of disaster and said preliminary estimates suggest damages could be as high as $283 million.
Yvonne Tucker rushed to a shelter with about 60 of her neighbors at Pinaire Mobile Home Park. She said people were crying and screaming, and the shelter's lights went out when the twister hit. When they came back outside, they found several homes destroyed, including hers.
``I didn't think it was that bad until I walked down my street and everything is gone,'' said Tucker, 49. ``I don't know what to do. I don't know where to go. I've seen it on TV, but when it happens to you it is unreal. I just feel lost.''
Kristin Dean said she was shaking as she was being pushed from home in her wheelchair to the same shelter. She was able to grab a bag of her possessions and was all she had left. Her home was gone.
``It got still,'' the 37-year-old woman. ``Then we heard a wham, things flying. Everybody screamed, huddling together.
``It is devastating, but you know, we are alive.''
In other storm damages:
_ Iowa emergency officials said a large part of the western town of Thurman was destroyed by a storm Saturday night.
_ A hospital in Creston, Iowa, suffered roof damage and had some of its windows blown out by the storm, but patients and staff were not hurt.
_ In Nebraska, baseball-sized hail shattered windows and tore siding from houses in Petersburg.euro In southeast Nebraska, an apparent tornado took down barns, large trees and other rural structures. (AP)
<한글 기사>
美 토네이도 강타…5명 사망•8천가구 정전
미국 중남부 오클라호마 주에서 토네이도가 발생 해 5명이 사망하고 8천 가구에 전기 공급이 끊기는 등 피해가 속출했다.
미국 국립기상청(NWS)에 따르면 토네이도는 15잃(현지시간) 새벽 0시18분 오클라호자 주의 북서부 도시 우드워드 지역을 강타, 5명이 사망하고 최소 29명이 부상한 것으로 확인됐다.
오클라호마 주 재난관리청 켈리 케인 대변인은 주 당국은 사망자 5명을 확인했으나 희생자의 사망 경위, 성별, 나이 등은 알지 못한다고 말했다.
부상자들은 인근 병원으로 이송돼 치료를 받고 있다.
또 강풍이 몰아치면서 인근의 주택, 병원, 군 기지 등에 영향을 주고 8천 가구에 전기 공급이 끊기는 등 피해가 속출했다.
재난 당국은 추가로 사망자나 부상자가 있을 경우에 대비해 수색작업을 계속 벌이고 있다.
앞서 14일 NWS는 오클라호마 주를 중심으로 미국 중부와 남부 지역에 엄청난 규모의 토네이도가 예상된다면서 주민들에게 비상경계령을 내렸다.
