Children were among the many missing, with 24 confirmed to have died after a tornado struck leveled Oklahoma on Monday afternoon in what U.S. President Barack Obama called "one of the most destructive tornadoes in history," NBC News reported. The tornado delivered a direct hit to two elementary schools, which included seven children drowning in a pool of water at Plaza Towers Elementary School, officials said.
"It was absolutely huge. It's horrific," Governor Mary Fallin said. "It look like somebody set off something that destroyed structures. Not blocks, but miles."
Estimates as of late Tuesday morning suggest, at least 236 people were hurt, with that number expect to rise, CBS News reported.
The storm laid waste to scores of buildings in Moore, a community of 41,000 people about 10 miles south of Oklahoma City. Rescuers launched a desperate rescue effort at the elementary school, pulling children from heaps of debris and carrying them to a triage center, CBS News reported.
News reports said that in Moore, entire blocks appeared as though "they had been razed, and cars were mangled beyond recognition. Piled up where houses once stood were scraps of wood, clothes, glass and metal," NBC News described.
The tornado tore the roof off the Plaza Tower Elementary School about 3 p.m. but it was not clear how many children still were missing.
The twister was a mile wide at its base, according to the Weather Channel. The National Weather Service initially classified the storm as an FF4, the second -strongest type, with winds of 166 to 200 mph.
"In an instant, neighborhoods were destroyed, dozens of people lost their lives, many more were injured, and among the victims were young children trying to take shelter in the safest place they knew, their school," Obama said. "So our prayers are with the people of Oklahoma today."
