OKLAHOMA TORNADO INTERVIEW by SBS News
The tornado struck mid-afternoon on Monday (Tuesday Austrlian time) and tore through the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore, nearly destroying at least two schools and many homes.
The state medical examiner's office says at least 51 people have been killed in the storm, which carried winds of up to 320 kilometres per hour.
The death toll is expected to rise as the search and rescue operation progresses.
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Storm Chaser Chris McBee has been helping residents in Moore to evacuate in the wake of the tornado.
"The situation in Moore is quite dire, there is destruction everywhere, there are neighbourhoods wiped out, there's untold people hurt, or worse," he told SBS.
"It's quite a terrible scene. There are cars and trees, it's just terrible."
Tornadoes are a common occurrence on Oklahoma's wide open plains.
Oklahoma City lies well inside the so-called "Tornado Alley" stretching from South Dakota to central Texas that is particularly vulnerable to tornadoes.
On Sunday, a powerful storm system churning through the US Midwest spawned tornadoes in Iowa, Kansas and Oklahoma, destroying homes and killing at least two people.
However, Mr McBee says despite tornados being common for the area, the extent of the destruction caused is unprecedented.
"This is the worst tornado I've ever seen in terms of magnitude and destruction," says Mr McBee.
Today's tornado follows roughly the same west-to-east track as a May 1999 twister that killed 44 people, injured hundreds more and destroyed thousands of homes in Moore and the south of Oklahoma City.
Mr McBee took the following photos of the wreckage and destruction in Moore.
(Chris McBee @centralokstorms)
