At 24 people, including nine children, were killed when a monstrous tornado ripped through the US city of Oklahoma, flattening entire neighbourhoods, crushing two elementary schools and turning the area into a war-zone.
"To date, 24 deceased victims of the tornado have been transported to our Oklahoma City office, and positive identifications have been made in the vast majority of those, and these are ready for return to their loved ones," spokeswoman Amy Elliott said.
Nine of the bodies are children, seven of which were found at a school.
Elliott told reporters that 24 victims had been confirmed dead, scaling back a previous count of 91.
Worst hit was Moore, south of the city, where neighbourhoods were flattened and two elementary schools destroyed. The 'Moore' tornado, over a mile wide, ripped through the area yesterday with winds of up to 320 km/h.
The Moore City Police Department said it was impossible to put a final number on fatalities because there was still so much area to search, but officials expected the worst.
"Our hearts are broken for parents who are wondering about the state of their children," said Governor Mary Fallin said.
US President Barack Obama has declared a State of Emergency in Oklahoma and had dispatched federal aid. He spoke with Oklahoma Governor to express his concern for those who have been affected by the severe weather.
"As a nation, our full focus right now is on the urgent work of rescue and the hard work of recovery and rebuilding that lies ahead," the US President said in his brief address to the nation this morning following yesterday's deadly storm.
The twister, one of several created by a storm system that swept through nation's midsection the past 36 hours, reduced homes and building to rubble.
Fallin deployed 80 National Guard members to assist with rescue operations and activated extra highway patrol officers.
The tornado stayed on the ground for 40 minutes and travelled 32 kilometres.
Several children were pulled alive from the rubble of Plaza Towers Elementary, but there were no immediate reports of rescues or casualties at another school.
Rescuers are "going house to house and block to block to try and find any survivors that are out there and trapped," said state emergency management spokesman Jerry Lojka.
"We can only imagine that there are still many others there that are unaccounted for," he said.
