cnn.com- 5/20/13, Nick Valencia.
Upturned cars were strewn amongst the wreckage of flattened homes, as the BBC's Jon Brain reports
Shawnee, Oklahoma (CNN) -- [Breaking news update at 4:58 p.m. Monday]
Areas of metropolitan Oklahoma City appeared to be in shreds Monday afternoon after a massive tornado moved through the region. "The houses are destroyed. ... Completely leveled," a helicopter pilot for CNN affiliate KFOR said. A school was apparently among the structures leveled by the twister.
[Original story, posted at 4:48 p.m. Monday]
Tornado tears through southern suburbs of Oklahoma City
A tornado struck just south of Oklahoma City on Monday afternoon, ripping apart homes and other buildings in populated areas.
The National Weather Service issued a rare tornado emergency for the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, meaning that significant and widespread damage and fatalities were likely.
Video from CNN affiliates showed a funnel cloud stretching from the sky to the ground, kicking up debris.
The tornado was estimated to be at least two miles wide at one point as it moved through Moore, Oklahoma, in the southern part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, CNN affiliate KFOR reported.
Meteorologists warned residents to go underground to survive a direct hit from the tornado.
"It's just destroying everything. There's so many homes in the air right now. The motion on this storm is sickening," said storm chaser Spencer Basoco.
More than 171,000 people could have been in the path of the storm.
Link: cnn.com
