At least five people were killed and several others critically injured in Oklahoma on Monday after a severe weather system spawned multiple tornadoes across the state, including a massive twister recorded on video over Norman, Oklahoma.
Three people died in Cleveland County, just west of Tecumseh, Oklahoma, said Albert Ashwood, director of Oklahoma Emergency Management. Two others were reported dead in Oklahoma County, the agency said.
"This was a significant storm and a deadly storm," Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett told reporters Monday night.At least 10 patients in hospitals around the state were in critical or serious condition after injuries suffered in the storm, the emergency management department said, and at least 47 others were treated for noncritical injuries.Video: Tornado wipes out homes
RELATED TOPICSRescuers were combing a 30-square-mile area Monday night to search for victims and clear away downed power lines and other hazards, Oklahoma City Fire Chief Keith Bryant said.
Video out of Norman, south of Oklahoma City, showed overturned cars, snapped utility poles, downed trees and severely damaged homes. Several mobile homes were blown to pieces in one neighborhood where debris littered yards and streets alongside large trees ripped straight from the ground.
The storm destroyed at least 40 homes and damaged at least 108 more, the emergency management department said.
A truck stop east of Oklahoma City was demolished, taking a direct hit from one of the tornadoes, according to a spokeswoman for Love's Travel Stops and Country Stores.
Motorists pulled off Interstate 40 and sought shelter in the truck stop's large coolers and restrooms before the tornado tore the roof off the building, blew out car windows and overturned tractor-trailers, spokeswoman Christina Dukeman said.
Cornett said quick thinking by the truck stop's employees saved people inside.
"They were all huddled into a cooler and all walked out alive," he said.
Video showed people outside the truck stop receiving treatment for minor injuries. Laura O'Leary, a spokeswoman for the Emergency Medical Services Authority, said seven people were transported from around the immediate area to local hospitals in good and fair condition, "a miraculously low number ... considering the volume of area the tornado covered."
Love's employee Charlescie Greenway said she and two other women made it to one cooler before the twister tore through the building.
"The three of us were kind of trapped in there, holding the door shut, praying to God that we don't die and that everybody else was safe," Greenway told CNN affiliate KWTV, adding, "it was really scary -- the wind was like trying to pull the door off the latch."
Sammy Ward and his partner rode the twister out in their truck in the parking lot.
"It started hailing and then it quit hailing and then all of a sudden the wind hit and it just went dark and here went everything," Ward told KWTV. "Trucks went to rocking ... and next thing we know the whole roof and everything was gone."
Ward, who said he felt "very lucky," said the event lasted two to three minutes.
Ashwood said crews were working to assess the damages in at least 13 counties, adding "numerous" homes had been affected.
The American Red Cross had opened at least three shelters Monday night and continued to assess needs across the state.
More than 65,000 homes and businesses were without power throughout the state, emergency management officials said. Nearly 15,000 homes were without power in Norman alone, according to Oklahoma Gas & Electric.
The Lake Draper Water Treatment Plant, which provides about half of Oklahoma City's water, was also without power Monday night, City Manager Jim Couch said. Because of the outage, city officials placed a ban on outside watering for 48 hours, he said.
"It's unknown when that power will be restored," he said. "Major transmission lines in the area have been damaged."
Ashwood said preliminary reports out of Norman indicate the damages are "similar to what you would see with an EF3" tornado, referring to the Enhanced Fujita Scale for measuring the strength of tornadoes. An EF3 is capable of producing winds up to 165 mph.
CNN iReporter Rebecca Barbato said tornado sirens were going off in her neighborhood in Moore, just north of Norman, when tennis-ball-sized hail began raining down on her roof.
Other tornadoes were reported in Yukon, Medford and Shawnee in Oklahoma, and in Wichita, Kansas.
The storms struck around 5 p.m. CT (6 p.m. ET)
Meteorologists warned throughout the day Monday of the potential for tornadoes.a famous violinist
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