Miles and minutes: Okla. tornado by the numbers
May 21, 2013, 8:30 PM | Updated: May 22, 2013, 3:48 pm
MOORE, Okla. (AP) – An exceptionally devastating tornado hit the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore on Monday afternoon, twisting through subdivisions and across a highway, leaving debris and confusion in its wake. Some of the storm’s effects can be measured in numbers:
24
The number of dead, including at least 9 children
More than 200
Injured, including dozens of children
200-plus
Responders searched overnight for survivors
2
Number of schools damaged, Plaza Towers Elementary in Moore and Briarwood in Oklahoma City
16
Minutes between when National Weather Service issued a tornado warning at 2:40 p.m. and when the tornado touched down in Newcastle, Okla., about 12 miles southwest of Moore
40
Minutes the tornado was on the ground, from 2:56 p.m. CDT to 3:36 p.m. CDT
17
Miles tornado traveled
1.3 miles
Width of tornado at points
200-210 mph
Estimated maximum wind speed, ranking as an EF-5 on the enhanced Fujita scale _ the most powerful category of tornado
58
EF-5 tornadoes in the United States since 1950
5,131
Days since the May 3, 1999, tornado in Moore, which followed the same route as Monday’s tornado. More than 4 dozen people died in that storm, and 600 homes were damaged.
___
Sources: Emergency officials in Moore, Okla., and the National Severe Storm Lab in Norman, Okla.
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