OKC METRO TORNADOES: At least 2 people were killed on I-40 near El Reno, Oklahoma, and it may be as high as 5. 57,000 people do not have power, last I had heard. Multiple tornadoes have occurred in the Oklahoma City area, near downtown, possibly near Moore and possible near Norman. TWC's Tornado Hunters car was picked up by the tornado, and all of the major highways in the OKC metro were parking lots as they moved through.
And then people wonder why Oklahoma Highway Patrol is complaining that there are too many people on the road during tornadoes. This is why. They don't want ANYONE, not even Sean Casey and Reed Timmer going down the highway trying to get near the tornado, and people are just breezing by OHP like there's nothing going on while they're trying to block the highways. The TV stations in OKC (*cough*KFOR*cough) often say with these large tornadoes that you need to get underground or get out of the way, which if you're in a mobile home, is a no brainer. But that's telling the people that have above ground concrete safe rooms that they aren't safe, which is absolute insanity, as many of those shelters are able to withstand large tornadoes like the ones tonight. Traffic was literally not moving down any of the highways as the tornadoes moved right into the downtown area, which will likely lead, unfortunately, to more situations like what happened to cars last week in Moore. And the storms pretty much stalled right over downtown OKC for almost two hours straight.
ST. LOUIS TORNADOES: A Holiday Inn was reportedly hit in the St. Louis suburbs. At first, it was called a "mass casualty event", but now, KMOV says it was the Holiday Inn Express on the other side of I-70 from the Holiday Inn, and the HI was not hit by the tornado. It sounds like maybe there weren't any significant injuries at either hotel, though. The Cardinals game was called off, and there was a report of people trapped by flying debris around Busch Stadium, but that now appears to be false. Just like in OKC, flash flooding is now a major issue in St. Louis, as another line is approaching the metro from the west.
Tornado Aftermath Coverage:
St. Louis (KMOV)
OKC (KWTV)
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