A flash flood emergency was declared in Oklahoma City for the first time in its history Wednesday as a series of storms across the southern Great Plains spawned tornadoes that destroyed homes and overturned cars on an interstate.
As of late Wednesday, no deaths had been reported as a result of the twisters that struck Oklahoma and rural regions of Nebraska and Kansas.
Oklahoma's capital appeared to sustain the worst of the damage, with one tornado destroying homes in Bridge Creek, Amber and Blanchard, southwest of the city. Forecasters said they believed a second storm that moved through the area birthed another twister.
"We have damage reports, so we do strongly think there was a tornado on the south side of Oklahoma City," meteorologist Michael Scotten with the National Weather Service in Norman said after the second storm that hit around 8:40 p.m.
That storm flipped vehicles on Interstate 35 and left power lines strewn across the roadway, Scotten said.
In Grady County, about 25 miles southwest of Oklahoma City, a zoo was hit by a tornado, prompting concerns that animals could be on the loose. KOKH later reported that the zoo's owner had confirmed that all the animals, including several tigers, had been accounted for and were safe.
A far larger concern was flooding. The storms dumped up to 6 inches in the southern part of Oklahoma City, prompting the city to issue a flash flood emergency shortly after 9 p.m. local time. Residents were warned of "deadly and dangerous" conditions and told to stay home.
