(Reuters) - A tornado devastated a small community near Oklahoma City late on Saturday, killing at least two people and injuring several more, officials said, as a succession of violent storms kept pounding the Central Plain states.

The twister struck El Reno, Oklahoma, at about 10:30 p.m. local time (0330 GMT), turning a hotel and mobile home park into a debris field and sending first responders on a desperate search for survivors, the city’s mayor said.

“It’s a pretty devastating sight,” El Reno Mayor Matt White said on Sunday in a news briefing. “We can tell you right now that we’re assessing everything and we are all hands on deck.”

Calling the damage to his community about 25 miles (40 km) west of Oklahoma City “horrific,” White said an unknown number of people suffered serious injuries and that rescuers had hand-sifted through the rubble during the night in search of others.

The two people killed by the storm were not immediately identified because their next of kin had yet to be notified, the mayor said.

The National Weather Service in Norman, Oklahoma, identified the tornado on its radar late on Saturday in one of several warnings it issued.

It was the latest in a string of violent storms that have raked Central Plains states from the Texas Panhandle north to Iowa, since last week. At least seven people were killed by those storms.

In addition, heavy rainfall over the past week has swollen several rivers, causing flooding and evacuations in Oklahoma and Missouri. </s> × Multiple people injured after a possible tornado touched down in Oklahoma

( ) — Officials are going door to door to assess damage after a possible tornado ripped through Oklahoma late Saturday night.

Multiple people have been injured after the possible tornado touched down in El Reno and tore through a mobile home park, Fire Chief Kent Lagaly told CNN.

No fatalities have been reported, and the number of injured is still unknown.

Lagaly said that authorities are going door to door to find any victims.

A hotel next to the mobile home park also suffered serious damage, Lagaly said.

Thirty-four people were in the American Budget Value Inn, according to CNN affiliate KFOR. First responders are working to get people out.

There are confirmed injuries in the hotel, the station said, but it is not yet clear how many.

Severe weather is not expected through the rest of Sunday morning, the National Weather Service in Norman, Oklahoma said on Twitter. </s> EL RENO, Okla. — A tornado destroyed a motel and killed at least two people and in the Oklahoma City suburb of El Reno overnight Saturday, according to the National Weather Service.

Meteorologist Rick Smith in Norman told The Associated Press that the suspected twister hit El Reno on Saturday night as a powerful storm system rolled through the state. Crews will arrive on the scene Sunday to determine with severity of the damage to the town just west of Oklahoma City.

The American Budget Value Inn was destroyed by the storm. Images at the scene showed emergency crews sifting through the rubble after part of the motel's second story collapsed into a pile of debris strewn about the first floor and parking lot.

El Reno Mayor Matt White confirmed at least two fatalities from the storm and an unknown number of persons missing. The identities of the victims has not been revealed.

Trailers at a mobile home park adjacent to the motel were also damaged, as was part of a nearby car dealership.

The mayor described the scene at the mobile home park as "horrific," and "decimated," during a news conference.

Elsewhere, overturned cars and twisted metal could be seen briefly as intermittent lightning flashed across the sky and the wailing sirens of approaching emergency vehicles could be heard in the distance.

The deadly storm comes just days after the area was hit by widespread flooding.

"We have absolutely experienced a traumatic event," White said during a news conference early Sunday. "We've had an incident where a tornado has basically hit a mobile home park and a hotel, and some other local businesses."

White said several people were transported to hospitals in Oklahoma City, but did not give an exact number.

"We're doing a search and rescue right now... we have all hands on deck," he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. </s> At least two people were killed and 29 injured, some critically, when a tornado ripped through an Oklahoma City suburb in the middle of the night, wiping out a hotel, a mobile-home park and several other buildings in just four minutes.

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The National Weather Service confirmed Sunday that a tornado hit El Reno, a town with a population of nearly 20,000, on Saturday and left a swath of damage that will take weeks to clean up and pain loved ones of the dead will likely never get over.

"This community is brokenhearted, we're hurt, we're absolutely devastated," El Reno Mayor Matt White said at a news conference Sunday morning.

White said the two deaths occurred in the area of the Sky View mobile-home park where the twister touched down at 10:28 p.m. While sirens signaled the approaching funnel cloud, residents said there was little time to seek shelter.

J Pat Carter/Getty Images

Search-and-rescue teams, according to White, were conducting grid searches through the devastated area, "picking up walls of debris to make sure nobody is under there."

He said an unknown number of people are unaccounted for.

Sixteen people were taken by ambulance to hospitals from the epicenter of the calamity and another 13 were raced to emergency rooms in private vehicles, according to White. He said injuries ranged from minor to critical, and that several people were undergoing surgery at the Oklahoma University Medical Center in Oklahoma City.

A woman who survived the tornado told ABC station KOCO in Oklahoma City that she and her two grandchildren escaped their mobile home only to find themselves in the middle of a "disaster zone."

"We heard screaming and stuff, children and adults both," she said. "A lot of destruction, a lot of chaos and .... death."

The National Weather Service meteorologists in Norman, Oklahoma, rated the tornado an EF3 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, meaning it generated wind speeds in the range of 136 to 165 mph. The highest rating on the scale, an EF5, packs winds topping 200 mph.

The weather service reported that the twister cut a 2.2-mile long path of destruction, and was about 75 yards at its widest point.

The tornado carried debris more than 4 miles northeast of El Reno, officials said.

Video showed the devastation. The tornado slammed a two-story American Budget Value Inn off Interstate 40, ripping off most of its second floor, and reducing much the structure to splintered pieces of wood and shattered glass.

“ ” A lot of destruction, a lot of chaos and .... death.

"As far as we know right now, there is no one in the rubble," the hotel's owner, Ramesh Patel, told KOCO.

A woman who was working in the office when the tornado hit suffered a broken leg, Patel said.

KOCO

White confirmed that everyone at the hotel when the tornado struck has been accounted for.

At sunrise Sunday, video showed a mobile home park next to the hotel strewn with shattered glass, wood and other debris that just hours earlier were residences of a thriving community. Aerial footage showed the twister slammed residences in a corner of the mobile home park while leaving other homes virtually unscathed.

Several vehicles were overturned and others were smashed by debris.

Sue Ogrocki/AP

After striking the Sky View mobile home park, the tornado hit the hotel and a nearby Dodge dealership, tearing the roof off the business, aerial footage showed.

Sue Ogrocki/AP

"We have absolutely experienced a traumatic event here in El Reno," White said.

He asked people to stay away from the area until search-and-rescue teams finish combing through the rubble.

"I think El Reno, Oklahoma, needs a lot of prayers," White said. "None of this is easy. We're all shook up."

Police in the neighboring town of Union City put out an all points bulletin -- for prayer.

"Please pray for those affected by these storms as well as the emergency services workers assisting in this ongoing rescue," Union City police said in a statement posted to Facebook. "This is an unfortunate example of just how quickly these types of storms can develop from a simple thunderstorm into a deadly supercell tornado."

Sue Ogrocki/AP

A National Weather Service meteorologist confirmed the catastrophic weather event was a tornado by analyzing radar images, seeing a "debris ball" in the area, and by detecting telltale evidence of a twister by examining pictures of the damage and eyeballing the devastation in person, officials said.

El Reno damage pic.twitter.com/XLf2T3YhM0 — Dillon Richards (@KOCODillon) May 26, 2019

The tornado that hit El Reno comes on the heels of a severe weather week in the Southern Plains. There were 104 tornadoes reported across eight states -- Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, and Maryland -- from Monday to Thursday.

Three people were killed in Golden City, Missouri, on Thursday as a tornado moved through the region. The state's capital, Jefferson City, about 170 miles northeast of Golden City, also suffered severe damage the same night from a tornado, but no one was killed.

At least four other people were killed from storms, including flash flooding, in the central U.S. this week.

ABC News' Nick Cirone, Alex Faul, Josh Hoyos, and Jennifer Harrison contributed to this report. </s> Mayor says 2 people confirmed dead after likely tornado roars through Oklahoma town and destroys hotel, causes damage

EL RENO, Okla. (AP) — Mayor says 2 people confirmed dead after likely tornado roars through Oklahoma town and destroys hotel, causes damage. </s> At least nine people have died after heavy storms and tornadoes hit parts of the United States, CNN TV channel reports.

At least three tornadoes hit the eastern part of Texas Saturday. Here at least five people died, and over 50 injured, according to local media.

In Missouri, an elderly woman was found dead after her car was taken off by floodwaters. The police in Arkansas state that a woman died on Saturday when a three hit her home. </s> Likely Tornado Kills At Least 2 In Oklahoma

A possible tornado struck the Oklahoma city of El Reno Saturday night and killed at least two people.

In a news conference early Sunday morning, El Reno mayor Matt White said the storm hit at about 10:30 p.m., and warning sirens sounded at 10:27 p.m.

The storm destroyed an American Budget Value Inn, damaged the nearby Skyview Estates mobile home park and also affected nearby businesses, including a car dealership. White said several individuals have also been hospitalized.

"It is very traumatic — I think you'll see in the daylight," White said. "You'll see how dramatic it is when the daylight shines on it."

White said the mobile home park had 88 homes and rescue efforts were mainly focused on about 15 of them. When asked about how many guests were staying in the motel, White said his team was "trying to run those numbers down."

White described the scene as "horrific; decimated."

El Reno sits 30 miles west of Oklahoma City. According to the 2010 census, its population is about 17,000.

"El Reno has suffered in the last couple of weeks some significant flooding," White said.

This also would not be the first destructive tornado to hit the city in recent years: In 2013, eight people in the El Reno area were killed by a tornado that swept across a broad area of Oklahoma.

"Our first responders are experienced," White said. "They're qualified and our community is very resilient to this."

The El Reno storm is the latest in a spate of deadly weather in the Midwest. Several tornadoes struck Missouri this week, and both Missouri and Oklahoma have been experiencing severe flooding. </s> At least 13 people had died and two children were missing late Sunday as a result of tornadoes and flooding in the South and Midwest, brought by a storm that also dumped a rare late-season blizzard in western Kansas.

Tornadoes hit several small towns in East Texas, killing four people. Three people were killed by flooding and winds in Arkansas, with officials saying two more people are missing. Rushing water swept away a car, drowning a woman in Missouri; and a death was reported in Sunday morning storms that raked Mississippi.

Flooding closed part of Interstate 44 near Hazelgreen, Missouri, and officials expected it would be at least a day before the highway reopened. Interstate 70 in western Kansas was closed because crews were waiting for snow falling at 3 to 4 inches an hour being blown by 35 mph winds to subside.

An Arkansas volunteer fire department chief was killed while working during storms in north-central Arkansas, state police said.

Cove Creek/Pearson Fire Chief Doug Decker died shortly before 4 a.m. Sunday after being struck by a vehicle while checking water levels on Highway 25 near Quitman, about 40 miles north of Little Rock, Trooper Liz Chapman said. It wasn't known if he will be included as a storm-related death, she said.

A 2-year-old girl in Tennessee died after being struck by a heavy, metal soccer goal post that was blown over by high winds, The Metro Nashville Police Department posted on its Twitter page on Sunday evening.

Melanie Espinoza Rodriguez was transported to a local hospital where she was pronounced dead, according to a second post from the department.

Middle Tennessee was hit by a strong line of storms that knocked down trees and power lines earlier Sunday.

Rescuers in northwest Arkansas continued Sunday to look for an 18-month-old girl and a 4-year-old boy who were in a vehicle swept off a bridge by floodwaters in Hindsville, the Madison County Sheriff's Office said.

In northwest Arkansas, a 10-year-old girl drowned in Springdale and the body of a woman who disappeared riding an inner tube Saturday was found in a creek in Eureka Springs. Also, a 65-year-old woman in DeWitt in the eastern part of the state was struck and killed in her home by a falling tree, officials said.

In Texas, search teams were going door to door Sunday after the tornadoes the day before flattened homes, uprooted trees and flipped several pickup trucks at a Dodge dealership in Canton.

"It is heartbreaking and upsetting to say the least," Canton Mayor Lou Ann Everett told reporters at a news conference Sunday morning.

The storms cut a path of destruction 35 miles long and 15 miles wide in Van Zandt County, Everett said. The largely rural area is about 50 miles east of Dallas.

The National Weather Service found evidence of four tornadoes with one twister possibly on the ground for 50 miles.

The first reports of tornadoes came about 4:45 p.m. Saturday, but emergency crews were hampered by continuing severe weather, said Judge Don Kirkpatrick, the chief executive for Van Zandt County.

"We'd be out there working and get a report of another tornado on the ground," he said.

The storms rolled through Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama on Sunday with strong winds causing isolated pockets of damage. In Durant in central Mississippi on person died in the storms. The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency didn't give details. Later Sunday the agency reported the death of a child from Rankin County, 20 miles east of Jackson, who died from electric shock in flood waters. The Rankin County Sherriff's Department reported that a 7-year-old boy had unplugged an electric golf cart and dropped the cord in water on the ground and was shocked.

Alexa Haik went to bed Saturday night expecting just rain, but heard the sirens Sunday morning and turned on the television to see the tornado warning. She rounded up her pets and hid in a hallway with her family, then was stunned to emerge to trees down all in her neighborhood in Clinton, Mississippi, about 20 miles west of Jackson.

A trip up the road showed how isolated the worst of the storms were. "I really thought when we got out of our neighborhood, there would be damage everywhere. But our little subdivision was the only one hit," Haik said.

Near Clever in southwestern Missouri, a man tried to save his 72-year-old wife from floodwaters that swept away their vehicle Saturday, but her body was found when the water receded, the Missouri State Highway Patrol said.

A second death from weekend flooding was announced Sunday by Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens but he did not release any details about the victim or the circumstances of the death.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. </s> Multiple tornadoes ripped through a town in eastern Texas on Saturday evening, killing at least four people and injuring dozens of others, according to authorities, who warned the number of casualties could rise.

Three tornadoes were confirmed by the U.S. National Weather Service in Canton, a city about 60 miles (95 kilometres) east of Dallas.

"We have at least four fatalities," Canton Mayor Lou Ann Everett said at a news conference on Sunday. "It is a very fluid situation and that could change later today." Forty nine people had been treated for injuries, she said.

Earlier local media reports said five people had died, citing the Canton fire department.

Pictures and video posted online showed cars flipped over and two-story houses in the area all but destroyed.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott deployed a search and rescue team to the area.

Downpours that began on Friday were so intense the ground was unable to absorb the rainfall, making flooding highly likely, said meteorologist Kenneth James of the Weather Prediction Center, part of the National Weather Service.

More than six inches of rain fell in some areas, flooding roads and prompting evacuations, meteorologists said.

The governors of Missouri and Oklahoma declared states of emergency due to flooding.

In the St. Louis area, severe thunderstorms are forecast through Sunday. Some people were told to evacuate and 33 rescues were conducted, mostly in the state's central and southwestern regions, Missouri Governor Eric Greitens said.

Parts of Indiana received up to 8 inches (20 cm) of rain while areas in Oklahoma, Missouri and Arkansas have been drenched with up to 4 inches (10 cm), James said.

Heavy rainfall in the Midwest was expected to continue on Sunday, along with wind gusts of 60 miles (95 km) per hour.
Two people are killed and several are missing due to a tornado in the U.S. state of Oklahoma.