Newcastle- Oklahoma City- Moore Tornado Rated as an EF-5 by NWS

The original CSW post on this tornado can be found HERE...

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORMAN OK
250 PM CDT TUE MAY 21 2013

...NWS DAMAGE SURVEY FOR 5/20/2013 NEWCASTLE/MOORE TORNADO EVENT - UPDATE 3...

...NWS DAMAGE SURVEY HAS NOW RATED THE NEWCASTLE/MOORE TORNADO AS EF5...

.OVERVIEW...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DISPATCHED FOUR DAMAGE SURVEY TEAMS TO THE PATH OF THE NEWCASTLE/MOORE OK TORNADO. 

NEW STATEMENTS WILL BE ISSUED THROUGHOUT THE DAY AS THESE TEAMS REPORT FINDINGS. THIS INFOR-

MATION REMAINS PRELIMINARY AND THE INFORMATION HERE COULD CHANGE.

.NEWCASTLE/MOORE TORNADO

RATING:                  EF5
ESTIMATED PEAK WIND:     200-210 MPH
PATH LENGTH /STATUTE/:   17 MILES
PATH WIDTH /MAXIMUM/:    1.3 MILES
FATALITIES:              N/A
INJURIES:                N/A

START DATE:              MAY 20 2013
START TIME:              2:45 PM CDT
START LOCATION:          4.4 W  NEWCASTLE /GRADY COUNTY /OK
START LAT/LON:           35.2580 / -97.6775

END DATE:                MAY 20 2013
END TIME:                3:35 PM CDT
END LOCATION:            4.8 E OF MOORE OK /CLEVELAND COUNTY /OK
END LAT/LON:             35.3409 / -97.4007

SURVEY SUMMARY: EXPERTS SURVEYING IN MOORE HAVE DETERMINED DAMAGE IS EF5 WITH MAXIMUM WINDS 

OVER 200 MPH. 

FOUR SURVEY TEAMS CONTINUE TO INSPECT DAMAGE FROM THIS LONG TRACK TORNADO. 

INITIAL DAMAGE WAS FOUND AROUND 4.4 MILES WEST OF NEWCASTLE...SOUTH OF TECUMSEH ROAD ALSO 

KNOWN AS NW 16TH STREET AND EAST LAKE ROAD. 

THE TORNADO TRACKED NE TO THE INTERSTATE 44 BRIDGE OVER THE CANADIAN RIVER AND THEN TOOK A MORE EASTWARD TRACK THROUGH MOORE. TORNADO DAMAGE ABRUPTLY ENDS 0.3 MILES EAST OF AIR DEPOT ROAD

AND N OF SE 134TH ST.

INITIALLY PRODUCING EF0 AND EF1 DAMAGE THE STORM INTENSIFIED VERY RAPIDLY IN 4 MILES OR AROUND 10 

MINUTES PRODUCING EF4 DAMAGE BEFORE REACHING INTERSTATE 44. 

NUMEROUS INDICATIONS OF EF4 DAMAGE WITH SOME AREAS NOW DETERMINED AT EF5 DAMAGE...THE HIGHEST CATEGORY ON THE EF SCALE...WITH OVER 200 MPH WINDS.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION SUCH AS MAXIMUM PATH WIDTH WILL BE UPDATED AS THE TEAMS COMPLETE THEIR 

SURVEYS.

"Tornado Emergency" for South Metro Oklahoma City - Massive Tornado Strikes Moore OK

Shortly before midnight Tuesday- the death toll from a massive tornado that roared though southern Oklahoma City suburbs on Monday afternoon has reached 91- according to CNN as repeated by KFOR TV4 in OKC..

That number- a considerable rise from the "51 killed" as reported by American news media given by the Oklahoma Medical Examiner's office earlier Monday evening.

However- as of 8 am Tuesday morning- Steve Eddy who is the City Manager in Moore reported their death toll as only "19."

That number was increased to "24 killed" by Oklahoma's governor in a midday Tuesday news presser.

KOCO-TV   

KFOR- TV

UPDATE - 4:05 pm - There is a swath of heavy destruction from Newcastle- through extreme southern Oklahoma City into the city of Moore OK..



There are as of yet an unknown number of injuries- but many dozens of homes and buildings have been destroyed by what looks on TV news chopper pictures as a high EF-4 or EF-5 tornado.

At least two schools- whose students were "on lockdown until the tornado passed-" have been heavily damaged as well as the Moore Medical Center.

A caller to one of the OKC TV stations said citizen rescuers "were pulling 3rd graders" from the rubble of the demolished "Plaza Towers" Elementary school building.


Rescuers were still trying to reach a reported "40 students unaccounted for as well as two janitors (KFOR4)" at Plaza Towers late Monday evening.


Struck first and heavily-damaged was the Briarwood Elementary school.


KFOR reported at 9:44 pm that there "were no fatalities at Briarwood" school- although a yet-unknown number of children and faculty were injured.

As of 5:30 pm- "19 patients" were reported to be at the Moore Medical Center (MMC)- itself damaged by the tornado.

There was at least six serious to critical injuries at that medical facility- but no serious injuries reported inside MMC itself when the tornado smashed into the building at 3:24 pm.


A fairly recently-built Warren movie theater complex just south of MMC also took a direct hit- but the building survived remarkably barely damaged.

Around 100 people rode out the twister inside the theater's hallways.



At S.W. 4th Street and Telephone Road across from MMC- citizen rescuers- including a KFOR TV reporter- dug into the debris of what had been a 7-11 convenience store only to find a 3-month-old infant and it's mother dead- along with another man.

It was reported the woman and child had sought shelter from the tornado in 7-11's coolers.



As of 5:50 pm- KFOR is reporting "4 fatalities."


Within 15 minutes- that total had been increased to "six."





As of  10 pm- the death toll is reported as "51 - 20 of those were children" according to KOCO-TV.



More than 260 injured were reported at various medical facilities in Metro OKC.




The KFOR-4 meteorologist Mike Morgan at 4:18 pm said "the damage from (today's) tornado dwarfs (the damage) of the May 3, 1999" tornado that struck Moore.


The tornado's radar-indicated "debris ball" was estimated as "2-1/2-miles wide-" although the tornado funnel itself was 1.3 miles wide according to the NWS on Tuesday.



As a historic aside- today is the 56th anniversary of Metro Kansas City's infamous "Ruskin Heights Tornado."

Join The Storm Chase!

I only wish I could- but being anchored caring for a bedridden parent does not make that so...

At any rate- YOU can watch the many storm chasers out in the Central States today by logging onto ChaserTV- and save your vehicle's mileage- paint job as well as the nearly $4 per gallon cost of gas. 

CSW WEATHER: Tornado Watch No. 181 Until 10 PM Includes Metro KC

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
   TORNADO WATCH OUTLINE UPDATE FOR WT 181
   NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
   150 PM CDT SUN MAY 19 2013
   
   TORNADO WATCH 181 IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1000 PM CDT FOR THE
    FOLLOWING LOCATIONS
   
   IAC071-145-200300-/O.NEW.KWNS.TO.A.0181.130519T1850Z-130520T0300Z/
   
   IA 
   .    IOWA COUNTIES INCLUDED ARE
   
   FREMONT              PAGE                
   
   
   KSC001-003-005-007-013-015-017-019-027-029-031-035-041-043-045-049-053-059-061-073-077-079-085-087-089-091-095-099-103-105-107-111-113-115-117-121-123-125-127-131-133-139-143-149-151-155-157-159-161-169-173-177-185-191-197-201-205-207-209-200300-/O.NEW.KWNS.TO.A.0181.130519T1850Z-130520T0300Z/
   
   KS 
   .    KANSAS COUNTIES INCLUDED ARE
   
   ALLEN                ANDERSON            ATCHISON            
   BARBER               BROWN               BUTLER              
   CHASE                CHAUTAUQUA          CLAY                
   CLOUD                COFFEY              COWLEY              
   DICKINSON            DONIPHAN            DOUGLAS             
   ELK                  ELLSWORTH           FRANKLIN            
   GEARY                GREENWOOD           HARPER              
   HARVEY               JACKSON             JEFFERSON           
   JEWELL               JOHNSON             KINGMAN             
   LABETTE              LEAVENWORTH         LINCOLN             
   LINN                 LYON                MARION              
   MARSHALL             MCPHERSON           MIAMI               
   MITCHELL             MONTGOMERY          MORRIS              
   NEMAHA               NEOSHO              OSAGE               
   OTTAWA               POTTAWATOMIE        PRATT               
   RENO                 REPUBLIC            RICE                
   RILEY                SALINE              SEDGWICK            
   SHAWNEE              STAFFORD            SUMNER              
   WABAUNSEE            WASHINGTON          WILSON              
   WOODSON              WYANDOTTE           
   
   
   MOC003-005-021-025-037-047-049-061-063-075-081-087-095-129-147-165-177-227-200300- /O.NEW.KWNS.TO.A.0181.130519T1850Z-130520T0300Z/
   
   MO 
   .    MISSOURI COUNTIES INCLUDED ARE
   
   ANDREW               ATCHISON            BUCHANAN            
   CALDWELL             CASS                CLAY                
   CLINTON              DAVIESS             DEKALB              
   GENTRY               HARRISON            HOLT                
   JACKSON              MERCER              NODAWAY             
   PLATTE               RAY                 WORTH               
   
   
   NEC025-059-067-095-097-109-127-129-131-133-147-151-159-169- 200300-/O.NEW.KWNS.TO.A.0181.130519T1850Z-130520T0300Z/
   
   NE 
   .    NEBRASKA COUNTIES INCLUDED ARE
   
   CASS                 FILLMORE            GAGE                
   JEFFERSON            JOHNSON             LANCASTER           
   NEMAHA               NUCKOLLS            OTOE                
   PAWNEE               RICHARDSON          SALINE              
   SEWARD               THAYER              
   
   
   ATTN...WFO...OAX...GID...EAX...ICT...TOP...DDC...