Oklahoma after the tornado: A howling wind and the cries of death

Oklahoma: Rescue teams searched through the night in the hope of finding survivors after a deadly tornado 16 kilometres south of Oklahoma City flattened two elementary schools and many homes.

By dawn, however, the effort was increasingly becoming one of recovery rather than rescue, as military and civil authorities focused on piles of construction material.

Initial reports that the storm had killed 51 people or more were scaled back Tuesday morning. Officials in Oklahoma City said Tuesday that 24 bodies had been recovered after the tornado.

“We have got good news,” said Amy Elliott, chief administrative officer at the Oklahoma City Medical Examiner’s Office. “The number right now is 24.”

The prior figure of 51 dead may have included some double-reported casualties, Elliott said. ”There was a lot of chaos,” Elliott added.

She cautioned, however, that additional bodies could still be recovered from the rubble.

President Barack Obama promised on Tuesday to make available all necessary US government resources to Oklahoma to help in the rescue and recovery effort in the aftermath of the devastating twister.

“The people of Moore should know that their country will remain on the ground, beside them, for as long as it takes,” Obama said at the White House.

All but three of the bodies that have been recovered have been identified and are being returned to their families, Elliott said.

The tornado demolished Briarwood and Plaza Towers elementary schools in Moore, reducing homes to piles of splintered wood.

“It would be incredible if anybody survived in any of those structures during this terrible storm,” Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin told CBS News on Tuesday morning, as Moore, a town of 41,000, braced for another harrowing day.

“Some folks [are] saying this is more of a recovery mission at this stage as the hours and minutes go by,” CBC News correspondent Lyndsay Duncombe reported. “Of course, it becomes less likely that survivors will be found and more likely the death toll will go up.”

More than 120 people, including about 50 children, were being treated at hospitals. The fatalities among children were located at Plaza Towers Elementary, rather than Broarwood, CBS New reported.

“We have seen some of those images of just parents and volunteers who were rushing to the school to start pulling some of those children out, so anyone who could help did,” Duncombe reported. “Now they’re asking people to stay away from the scene and let the professionals do their work.”

Children from Plaza Towers school were among the dead, but several students were pulled out alive earlier Monday from under a collapsed wall and other heaps of mangled debris. Rescue workers passed the survivors down a human chain of parents and neighbourhood volunteers.

Parents carried children in their arms to a triage centre in the parking lot. Some of the students looked dazed, while others appeared terrified.

As dusk fell, heavy equipment rolled up to the school and emergency workers wearing yellow crawled among the ruins, searching for survivors. Crews used jackhammers and sledgehammers to tear away concrete, and chunks were being thrown to the side as the workers dug.

The governor deployed 80 National Guard members to assist with rescue operations and activated extra highway patrol officers.

Fallin also spoke Monday with Obama, who declared a major disaster and ordered federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts.

In a video of the storm, which touched down at 2.56pm local time, the dark funnel cloud could be seen marching slowly across the green landscape. As it churned through the community, the twister scattered shards of wood, awnings and glass all over the streets.

The tornado also destroyed the community hospital and some retail stores. Moore Mayor Glenn Lewis watched it pass through from his jewellery shop.