Tornadoes

At sunrise Tuesday,May 21, 2013, an American flag blows in the wind atop the rubble of a destroyed home in Moore, Okla. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - The Oklahoma medical examiner's office says it has positively identified all 24 victims of Monday's tornado that ripped across the Oklahoma City area. The office announced Wednesday that 10 of those killed were children, including two infants. Among the dead are 4-month-old Case Futrell and 7-month-old Sydnee Vargyas. Both babies died from head injuries. The eight other children ranged in age from 4 years old to 9 years old. Of those, six were suffocated. The other two died from massive injuries. Seven of the children were ...

An aerial view shows Plaza Towers Elementary School, which was destroyed in Monday's tornado, in Moore, Okla., on May 21, 2013. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez, File) MOORE, Okla. (AP) - With its single-story design and cinder-block walls, Plaza Towers Elementary School may have seemed sturdy when it was built a couple of generations ago. But a powerful tornado revealed the building's lack of modern safety standards, destroying the school and killing seven students. Unlike several other schools in the Oklahoma City area, Plaza Towers had no "safe room" in which students and teachers could seek protection from a twister. SEE ON SKYE: Photos of the Devastation The federal government offers money ...

Briarwood Elementary P.E. teacher Mike Murphy comforts Aiden Stuck, 7, as he waits for his mother at the school after a tornado destroyed Briarwood Elementary and struck south Oklahoma City and Moore, Okla., Monday, May 20, 2013.(AP Photo/ The Oklahoman, Nate Billings) MOORE, Okla. (AP) - The principal's voice came on over the intercom at Plaza Towers Elementary School: A severe storm was approaching and students were to go to the cafeteria and wait for their parents to pick them up. But before all of the youngsters could get there, the tornado alarm sounded. The plan changed quickly. "All the teachers started screaming into the room and saying, 'Get into the hallway! We don't want you ...

An aerial view shows Briarwood Elementary with vehicles thrown about after Monday's tornado, Tuesday, May 21, 2013, in Moore, Okla. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez) MOORE, Okla. (AP) - An emergency official says Oklahoma has reinforced tornado shelters in more than 100 schools across the state, but the two that were hit by this week's storms in suburban Oklahoma City did not have them. Albert Ashwood is director of the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management. He told reporters Tuesday it's up to each jurisdiction to set priorities for which schools get limited funding for safe rooms. ASK SKYE: How Can We Prevent Tornado Disasters Like Moore, Okla.? Ashwood says a shelter would not ...

By Sue Ogrocki, Associated Press A woman carries a child through a field near the collapsed Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, Okla., Monday, May 20, 2013. (AP Photo Sue Ogrocki) Editor's Note: Oklahoma City-based AP photographer Sue Ogrocki was at the elementary school destroyed by a tornado and saw rescuers pulling children out of the rubble. This is her account of what she witnessed. MOORE, Okla. (AP) - I left the office in Oklahoma City as soon as I saw the tornado warnings on TV. I had photographed about a dozen twisters in the past decade, and knew that if I didn't get in my car before the funnel cloud hit, it would be too late. By the time I reached Moore, all I could see ...