Officials said most bodies had been recovered from the sprawling moonscape that was once an Oklahoma City suburb, where Monday afternoon's twister steamrolled entire neighborhoods and two schools. Nine children were among those who perished.
After wide fluctuations in the casualty estimates offered by officials, Oklahoma City police chief Bill Citty said 20 people had been killed in the suburb of Moore and four more elsewhere. He said the death toll could rise.
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Some 237 people were injured by the hurricane-strength storm, Andy Oden, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management, told AFP.
The majority -- 148 -- suffered cuts or piercings while 85 were struck by debris and four by vehicles or other large objects.
As rescue efforts wound down, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano was headed to Moore Wednesday to "ensure that first responders are receiving the assistance they need," said a statement from her office.
For residents whose lives were turned upside down, relief about having survived turned to heartbreak as the extent of the disaster slowly sunk in.
"It's unreal. It's so visceral," said 32-year-old accountant Roger Graham as he combed through the ruins of the three-bedroom home he shared with his wife Kalissa, a schoolteacher, recovering what he could.
Curtis Carver, a 20-year veteran of the US Marine Corps who served two years in Iraq, described his hometown as a "war zone" as he waited at a police checkpoint for permission to recover keepsakes from the ruins of his house.
