Officials in Oklahoma have revised to 24 the number of bodies recovered after a tornado devastated the town of Moore, Oklahoma.
Earlier, 51 people were reported killed. Officials attributed the higher number to counting bodies twice in the chaos following the storm that struck late Monday. They said additional bodies could yet be recovered. At least 240 people were injured.
The tornado with winds of 320 kilometers an hour demolished an elementary school and reduced homes to piles of splintered wood in the suburb of Oklahoma City.
Rescue workers pulled several children alive out of the rubble of two schools that were hit.
Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin said "hearts are broken'' for parents looking for their children. She deployed the state National Guard and extra police to assist with rescue operations.
President Barack Obama declared a major disaster in Oklahoma as a result of the storm. He ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide any assistance that Oklahoma needs.
The National Weather Service said the magnitude of this tornado was an EF-4, the second most-powerful type of twister on the five-level scale that measures a storm's destructive power.
Moore, Oklahoma also was hit hard by a deadly tornado in 1999.
The tornado Monday is the deadliest in the United States since 2011, when a storm in the central community of Joplin, Missouri killed 161 people.
Earlier, 51 people were reported killed. Officials attributed the higher number to counting bodies twice in the chaos following the storm that struck late Monday. They said additional bodies could yet be recovered. At least 240 people were injured.
The tornado with winds of 320 kilometers an hour demolished an elementary school and reduced homes to piles of splintered wood in the suburb of Oklahoma City.
Rescue workers pulled several children alive out of the rubble of two schools that were hit.
Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin said "hearts are broken'' for parents looking for their children. She deployed the state National Guard and extra police to assist with rescue operations.
President Barack Obama declared a major disaster in Oklahoma as a result of the storm. He ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide any assistance that Oklahoma needs.
The National Weather Service said the magnitude of this tornado was an EF-4, the second most-powerful type of twister on the five-level scale that measures a storm's destructive power.
Moore, Oklahoma also was hit hard by a deadly tornado in 1999.
The tornado Monday is the deadliest in the United States since 2011, when a storm in the central community of Joplin, Missouri killed 161 people.