We're expecting damages in the range of two to three times what was inflicted back in May 3rd 1999. Two elementary schools have been leveled, and hundreds of homes have been stripped down to their foundations. A horse ranch had reported that dozens of their animals were killed in the storm. Damages are expected to run well over $2,000,000,000. Currently CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News are covering the storm.

We're also the top news story in Britain right now: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22604251

Stay safe, my friend! Cooperate with safety personal and authorities and you will be fine. Good luck!.

Hope everyone makes it out fine

EDIT: Looked it up. Sheesh, a two mile wide tornado?!

I wasn't in the path of today's Tornado, and yesterday's came close, but it didn't touch down where I live.

I'm just highlighting this, because it's a lot of devastation near where I live.

Good thing you were not near! Did you have to evacuate at all as a precaution?

It's on the front page of one of Norway's biggest newspapers as well. This is a terrible disaster.

Geez, mother nature can be scary sometimes That's like after a bombing.

Good thing tornadoes don't last as long hurricanes atleast.

And good thing that on this of the atlantic we only get only very small tornadoes. Once saw a tiny whirlwind throw some wooden window frames around, interesting thing to witness

Yikes, it is all over every single news site. CNN is reporting that the elementary school that got hit has children being pulled out. Dang, nature is scary

KFOR is running a raw feed right now on their website. I moment ago I saw a wide angle long shot of one area that use to have houses. I could not see any of them standing in entire shot.

http://kfor.com/on-air/live-streaming/

I just hope that people were in a shelter, because if they were in their house, it's not going to be good.

I imagine the death toll is going to be pretty high, for a tornado. Usually these things don't kill anyone. I doubt that will be the case today.

We didn't - yesterday was a smaller Tornado, and it didn't ramp up until after it left our area. We ended up going to our downstairs neighbor's apartment to ride it out. Had a bit of hail and some strong winds, but no real damage at our apartment complex. It was just a lot of wind, rain, and fear in our area. Other towns got decimated, though...

Forgive my ignorance but don't they usually have a warning about a tornado before touch down?

This is terrible. Best wishes to everyone that was in the path of the storm from another Tornado Alley resident.

A tornado this size will take your entire house and everything in it. You have to be underground to survive, basically.

We used to have a five minute warning on these things, but technological improvements have ramped it up to about 30 minutes. Usually the winds are strong enough to cause serious property damage, but not enough to rip entire houses off their foundations - in this case it was powerful enough to rip houses off the ground. That's what will make this storm so deadly.

Standard practice in a tornado is to head to your center closet - when the entire house is coming up, that doesn't exactly help.

I have had a couple minor tornado warnings here in Northern California, but as a precaution the EAS told us to find shelter in a basemant/concrete room if the time comes that it touches down.

My brother lives in Midwest City. I'm going to try and call him in an hour or two when the weather dies down, but I think they just had the thunderstorms. I'm hoping anyway.

Yep, there are sirens and alarms. However, people are taught that for most tornadoes, an interior bathroom or closet is a safe place to be. And, unless your house is destroyed, it probably is the safest place to be. In this case, too many homes were destroyed, so unless they had an underground shelter or reinforced Safe Room, survival is dicey if someone was inside their home as it got destroyed.

Does every house have one of those? I've never lived in a house with a basemant, then again I don't live in a tornado zone, in any case I hope the death toll is minimal.

I guess it depends who it is that tells us. I http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whwb2mHsm44 the EAS that popped up on my TV (and scared the living bejeesus out of me and my mom because we were all cozy in the living room watching a movie on a rainy night), and it said to find shelter in the lowest part of the building (It didnt say anything like a concrete room, not sure where I got that from).

People who live an a Tornado area usually have something they can use as a shelter. However, not all home builders care, nor is everyone that smart, or have the ability to pick and choose about their housing choices.

I grew up in Florida, and I don't know if it was a by product of the Civil Defense Department or not, but we were all taught at a young age where to go if a tornado or hurricane was coming and what to do about it. It may be that areas that are rarely hit by these things would not have the same training or programs.

Around here, I rarely see a basemant in someone's house. I live in a duplex apartment, and my room is next to the basemant which is all concrete (my room is half concrete). My old house didn't have a basemant.

That is what I thought too. As the video description stated, the EAS I linked is very, super rare because the only natural disaster we have to look out for is earthquakes 99% of the time.

Then there are the trailer parks. Those can be death traps in a tornado.

EDIT: The footage is horrible. They showed a hospital with cars just piled on top of it.

Found another http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lFV3Bcuwqg for Sacramento/Foothills area. I think it was this one that I heard and scared us because it mentions Applegate, Colfax, Alta Sierra...all in the same county as me, within 10-15 miles of me.

Reason I linked this one is that it mentioned all the safety precautions such as the closet and stuff.

Hope he is ok

And to think I was upset that my power was out last night for 5 hours up here in KC.

My cousin and his wife are doctors at a clinic adjacent to a hospital in Moore. I just spoke with him and they apparently got hit (he didn't have time to talk about details), but they're OK and have set up and are working at a triage center. Unfortunately, they may be in for a long night.

In my city we're all taught to make a b-line for atlanta..

Thanks tgl. From what I read , it was south of the city in Moore and looked to be dissipating as it headed north. That was about an hour ago.

The one in 1999 that CerebralDreams mentioned hopped over his development. Popped up just before and dropped back down again when it passed. He's a lucky old bastard.