Share this page Email Print 1K Share Facebook Twitter Massive tornado rips through Oklahoma City suburbs

A gigantic tornado has ripped through a suburb of Oklahoma City, on the second day in a row the Midwestern state of Oklahoma has been slammed by twisters.

The "mile-wide" storm destroyed a primary school, sparked fires, and flattened homes.
Scores of primary school children are believed to be trapped under the debris, local media reported.
On Sunday, at least two people died and 21 more were injured by the tornadoes that also razed a mobile home park.
'Long recovery'

The tornado generated winds of up to 200mph (321km/h)

Children are being pulled alive from the wreckage of Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, Oklahoma, a suburb of about 55,000 people just south of Oklahoma City.
The twister struck about 16:00 local time (22:00 BST) on Monday.
There have been no reports of children injured or killed there.
Volunteers and rescue workers could be seen picking through the rubble in aerial news footage.
The National Weather Service (NWS) said Monday's tornado generated winds of up to 200mph (321km/h).
"It's going to take a while to recover from something like this," Oklahoma Congressman Tom Cole told CNN.
The storm has been given a preliminary classification of EF-4 on the enhanced Fujita scale.
The town of Moore was hit by a severe tornado in 1999, which had the highest winds ever recorded on earth.
But Betsy Randolph of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol told local news station Skynews 9 that the damage on Monday appeared to exceed that of the last devastating tornado.
Tornadoes, hail and high winds also hit Iowa and Kansas, part of a storm system stretching from Texas to Minnesota.
'Everything is gone'

On Sunday, a tornado smashed a trailer park on Highway 102 near Shawnee, Oklahoma.
Oklahoma's state medical examiner confirmed on Monday that two people had been killed near a trailer park there: Glen Irish, 79, and Billy Hutchinson, 76.
Both lived in Shawnee, but it was not immediately clear if either or both lived in mobile home park.
The Oklahoman newspaper reported that five people were brought to Norman Regional Hospital for injuries, with three injured critically.
Thousands of residents in the affected areas have been left without power.
Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin declared a state of emergency in 16 counties in order to send aid to the worst-hit parts of the state.
At least four tornadoes ravaged the state on Sunday, part of a storm system that was moving north-east across the Midwestern states and Texas.
"Right now we're in a rescue and recovery stage," Gov Fallin said. "We're still not in the clear yet."
>>bbcnews

Jonathan, Nigige, Obi, others eulogise Achebe

President Goodluck Jonathan said that Professor Achebe’s truthful interventions in Nigeria’s affairs will be greatly missed.
Speaking yesterday at the evening of tribute for Achebe at the International Conference centre, Abuja, the President who was represented by the Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, said while others may have disagreed with his views, most Nigerians never doubted Achebe’s immense patriotism and sincere commitment to building a greater, more united nation that all Africans and the entire black race could be proud of.
President Jonathan said Achebe was the quintessential literary icon of superlative brilliance, merit and repute, who received the national’s highest honour on intellectual output.
Praising Achebe for his academic and literary output, Jonathan said Achebe was a social critic, and unparallelled courage, of singleness of purpose and steadfastness of conduct, adding that though “he has passed on, he lives in his numerous works which will continue to illuminate the dark confines of the distorted history of the black race.”
Anambra State governor, Mr. Peter Obi, in his remarks, noted that the way to immortalise Achebe was to imbibe those principles he believed in while former Anambra governor, Dr. Chris Ngige, said Achebe spoke truth to power.
The senator said it was when Achebe spoke against the thuggery in Anambra state during his regime that Achebe became his friend.
Former senate president Dr. Ken Nnamani described Achebe as Nigeria’s greatest ambassador who brought honour to the country. Achebe, he went on was consistent in his writing and helped to give a clear direction to the country. Former Chief Justice of the federation, Justice Alfa Belgore, in his comments, remembered his lifelong relationship with Achebe and said his principles will help Nigeria, just as he said the late literary icon spoke the truth. “Achebe never lied. He never lied,” he said.
Other personalities at the event were Dr. Kalu Idika Kalu, Prof. Chudi Uwazurike and former minister Dr. Jerry Agada.
>>vanguardnews

Islamist spokesman surrenders in Mauritania

NOUAKCHOTT, Senegal (AFP) – A senior operative in an Al Qaeda-linked group in war-torn northern Mali has surrendered to Mauritania, a security source told AFP on Monday.
Ansar Dine spokesman Senda Ould Boumama “went to the Mauritanian armed forces on the border”, near the southeastern town of Bassiknou, on Saturday evening, the source said without giving further details.
According to Mauritania’s independent ANI news agency, Ould Boumama was transferred during the weekend to the capital Nouakchott, where he is being interrogated by police.
He first expressed a desire to surrender and be extradited to face trial in Mauritania, his home country, in a telephone call on April 17 to ANI, which is frequently used by Al Qaeda’s north Africa chapter to post messages.
Ould Boumama claimed to have been the target of an assassination attempt, although he did not reveal the origin.
The surrender will be seen as a further blow to Ansar Dine four months after France led a military operation to oust the organisation and other Islamist militias from the towns they had occupied across northern Mali last year.
The militants and Tuareg rebels took northern Mali in the wake of a military coup in the capital Bamako last year that left Mali, formerly once of the region’s most stable countries, in disarray.
Ansar Dine later implemented a brutal interpretation of Islamic sharia law on the people of the north, carrying out amputations and public executions.
>>vanguardnews