Video: Top News

video transcript

ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION) STORY: Students screamed and wandered around in bewilderment in the moments after a tornado devastated Briarwood Elementary School in Oklahoma on Monday (May 20). The students' shock is visible in the video obtained from the Oklahoman newspaper. The footage also shows teachers and parents rushing to comfort the children. Briarwood Plaza Elementary School was one of five schools in the path of the tornado. Rescuers went building to building in search of victims and thousands of survivors were homeless on Tuesday (May 21), a day after the massive tornado tore through a suburb of Oklahoma City, wiping out whole blocks of homes and killing at least 24 people. Nine children were among the dead, including seven who died at Plaza Towers Elementary School, which took a direct hit in the deadliest tornado to hit the United States in two years. Emergency workers pulled more than 100 survivors from the rubble of homes, schools and a hospital, and around 237 people were injured. Cadaver dogs sniffed through the scattered planks and bricks of ruined homes on Tuesday. The 2-mile (3-km) wide tornado ripped through Moore on the outskirts of Oklahoma City on Monday afternoon, trapping victims beneath the rubble and tossing vehicles about as if they were toys. On block after block of residential neighborhoods, there was nothing left but mangled debris. Thunderstorms and lightning slowed the rescue effort on Tuesday and made conditions tough for families left with nothing but the clothes on their backs.