Tornado survivors search nears end

An American flag flaps in the wind near Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, Oklahoma
22 May 2013

Rescue workers neared the end of the search for survivors and the dead in the Oklahoma City suburb where a mammoth tornado destroyed countless homes, cleared areas down to bare earth and claimed 24 lives, including nine children.

Scientists concluded the storm was a rare and extraordinarily powerful type of twister known as an EF5, ranking it at the top of the enhanced Fujita scale used to measure tornado strength. Those twisters are capable of lifting reinforced buildings off the ground, hurling cars like missiles and stripping trees free of bark.

After nearly 24 hours of searching, Moore's fire chief said he was confident there were no more bodies or survivors in the rubble."I'm 98% sure we're good," Gary Bird said at a news conference with the state governor, who had just completed an aerial tour of the disaster zone.

Authorities were so focused on the search effort that they had yet to establish the full scope of damage along the storm's long, ruinous path.

They did not know how many homes were gone or how many families had been displaced. Emergency crews had trouble navigating devastated neighbourhoods because there were no street signs left. Some rescuers used smartphones or GPS devices to guide them through areas with no recognisable landmarks.

The death toll was revised downward from 51 after the state medical examiner said some victims may have been counted twice in the confusion. More than 200 people were treated at hospitals.

By Tuesday night, every damaged home in Moore had been searched at least once, Mr Bird said. His goal was to conduct three searches of each building just to be certain there were no more bodies or survivors. The fire chief was hopeful that could be completed before nightfall but efforts were being hampered by heavy rain. Crews also continued a brick-by-brick search of the rubble of a school that was blown apart with many children inside.

No additional survivors or bodies have been found since Monday night, Mr Bird said.

Oklahoma governor Mary Fallin lamented the loss of life, especially of the nine children, but she praised the town's resilience. "We will rebuild, and we will regain our strength," she said.

President Barack Obama pledged to provide government help and mourned the death of young children who were killed while "trying to take shelter in the safest place they knew - their school".

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