As the sun sets on Oklahoma City and Moore, Oklahoma, rescue and retrieval efforts are still underway to help people find their loved ones and friends. The White House has already issued a statement and President Barack Obama has spoken with Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin, offering any help necessary.
President Barack Obama told Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin the federal government “stands ready to provide all available assistance” as part of the response to a series of deadly storms that have struck the Oklahoma City area, including Monday’s devastating tornado.
A White House statement said the Federal Emergency Management Agency has deployed a team to assist state operations, and additional personnel are ready to be dispatched as necessary. Obama told Fallin that “the people of Oklahoma” are in the first family’s “thoughts and prayers,” the statement said. (Via CNN)
It’s really hard to report anything as good news right now, but I’ll give plenty of credit to the news agencies focused solely on the aftermath of today’s tornadoes in Oklahoma for trying. For example, KFOR spoke with Paula Price from the Norman Regional Health System and she is trying to track down the parents of a 9-year old girl named Kaylie Hawkins (sp?) who is currently waiting for them at Norman Regional Hospital.
Additionally, the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Department Tweeted the below image of a dog that was pulled from some debris. As insignificant as it may seem, as one of the KFOR reporters just said, we’re still seeing the positives of humanity in all of this, as reports of people helping each other through all of this coincide with the heartbreak and devastation. Hopefully, we’ll continue to see more positives than negatives.
Again, news and numbers are slowly coming in, and people can check the Red Cross site, www.safeandwell.org, to see if any missing family members or friends have checked in yet. Keep track of the latest news updates via the KFOR live video feed and the KOCO live video feed. CNN also has some early estimates of injuries and people without power.