Oklahoma City - A system of violent thunderstorms roared across the nation's midsection on Tuesday, killing six people in two states, with several tornadoes touching down in Oklahoma and high winds pounding Kansas and Texas.
The high-powered storms arrived as forecast, just two days after a massive tornado tore through the southwest Missouri town of Joplin and killed 122 people.
Powerful tornadoes obliterated houses, splintered trees and tossed cars off highways in Oklahoma. At least four people were killed and numerous others injured.
Television footage in the aftermath of the storms showed remnants of homes and buildings strewn across roads and fields. One car wound up wrapped around a tree.
Rescue crews were frantically searching for a 3-year-old child reported missing in the rubble of a home in Piedmont, a suburban area northwest of Oklahoma City. The child's mother and two other children were injured and taken to the hospital after trying to ride the storm out in a bathtub, NBC station KFOR TV reported.
The Kansas Highway Patrol said two people were killed by a tree that was propelled into their van by high winds.
Northeastern Tarrant and Dallas counties in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area were also under a tornado warning, and numerous North Texas counties were under a tornado watch, the National Weather Service reported.
The city of Dallas activated sirens due to the tornado warning and spotters were confirming a tornado near Bedford, Texas.
Several tornadoes struck Oklahoma City and its suburbs during rush hour, killing at least four people and injuring at least 60 others, including three children who were in critical condition, authorities said.
Cherokee Ballard, a spokeswoman for the state medical examiner, said four people died west of Oklahoma City in Canadian County, where a weather-monitoring site in El Reno recorded 151 mph winds. She did not have any immediate details about the deaths.
In Kansas, police said two people died when high winds threw a tree into their van around 6 p.m. near the small town of St. John, about 100 miles west of Wichita. The highway was shut down because of storm damage.
Jerry Smith, emergency management director in Canadian County, Okla., told msnbc.com that the twister flipped over several vehicles with people inside.
"We have damage and we have people out doing surveys to get a handle on where the damage is," Smith said. "We are in the process of trying to make arrangements for shelters and to get people some assistance."
Two storms raked the southern side of the city - in the same area hit May 3, 1999, by the strongest tornado ever recorded.
Spokeswoman Lara O'Leary of the region's Emergency Medical Service Authority said there was a report of a gas explosion near El Reno and that emergency workers were dispatched.
The tornado caused "extensive damage" in El Reno, a town of about 15,000 people, said Rick Smith, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Norman.
"There are numerous trucks and cars overturned along Interstate 40," he said.
A semi-truck on Interstate 81 also blew over and was left a twisted wreck alongside the road. The driver of the truck was taken to the hospital and was in critical condition, KFOR reported.
A helicopter from KFOR of Oklahoma City tracked one storm as it slammed the McClain County town of Goldsby, south of Norman, and plowed across farmland beyond.
© MSNBC/AP
Pilot Jim Gardner set the chopper down at the scene to make sure the family was OK. He reported that they suffered only minor injuries.
Tornado sirens went off in Oklahoma City and nearby towns as residents hunkered down. State offices and a number of businesses let their workers go home hours earlier since severe weather had been expected. But the mayor's office told MSNBC television that the city proper seemed to have been spared.
The storms began about 3 p.m. in western Oklahoma and followed tracks greater than 40 miles into the state capital. State offices and a number of businesses let their workers go home hours earlier so they could be out of harm's way.
Interstate 40 was closed west of the city as the storm crossed the roadway near El Reno.
Another tornado touched down in the rural Oklahoma town of Canton, and search dogs were called out to find survivors.
Canton city employee Linda Hisell said police reported a twister moved through the area around Canton Lake, about 70 miles northwest of Oklahoma City. A trailer park there was "leveled," the Weather Channel reported an emergency official as saying.
Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin declared a state of emergency for 14 counties due to tornadoes, severe storms and flooding that began Sunday.
In neighboring Kansas to the north, homes were destroyed and at least one person injured east-northeast of Great Bend, by an apparent tornado, The Weather Channel reported. A twister was also reported near Hugoton, Kan.
The outbreak follows the deadly twister that hit Joplin, Mo., on Sunday.
Perhaps the end of time as we know it is near. I never suspected that a global wind storm could form and destroy everything. Imagine a Global Barometric drop. I have been wanting to drive across country soon but I am not so sure. What would happen if an Amtrak Passenger Train ran through such a storm?