Brought to you by WBIW News and Network Indiana
Last updated on Saturday, June 1, 2013
(OKLAHOMA CITY) - Oklahoma’s medical examiner’s office says a tornado outbreak in the Oklahoma City suburbs killed five people.
The Associated Press reports that a number of tornadoes touched down west and southeast of Oklahoma City during the Friday afternoon rush hour, crumbling cars and tractor-trailers. The dead include a mother and baby found near Union City and another person at El Reno.
Highway Patrol Trooper Betsy Randolph says troopers found the bodies of the mother and baby near a vehicle along Interstate 40 west of the city Friday.
Hospitals in the area say dozens of people were hurt, five critically.
The timing of the storm caused havoc on I-40, a major artery connecting suburbs east and west of the city.
Friday's tornadoes struck an area north and northwest of Moore, where a top-of-the-scale EF5 tornado killed 24 people last week.
Meteorologist injured
A meteorologist from The Weather Channel is nursing minor injuries after the "tornado hunt" car in which he was riding was thrown some 200 yards by a tornado in Oklahoma.
The SUV that Mike Bettes and two others were riding in was caught up in a storm near El Reno on Friday evening. The Weather Channel said all of the occupants were wearing safety belts and were able to walk away from the banged-up vehicle.
Network spokeswoman Shirley Powell says a Weather Channel team has been in the field for most of May following tornadoes. She says it's the first time one of the network's personalities has been injured while being caught up in violent weather it was covering.
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