37 confirmed dead...so far

[Horse with no Name]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/oklahoma-tornado-10-dead-horrific-damage/story?id=19219367

[Liberal_in_LA]

1. .

[kestrel91316]

2. How horrible. I assume, of course, that OK will be asking for federal disaster aid.

The irony won't be lost on me.

I'm happy to pay taxes so as to help victims regardless of where they live. I just wish they wouldn't be so freaking hateful to people like me in return.

[Bosso 63]

4. I don't see any irony yet.

[kestrel91316]

10. Asking for any federal aid will be the irony I fully expect.

[Bosso 63]

19. Yes, I'm sure your right. I just prefer my irony after the children's bodies are at least cold.

Any sooner just seems a bit tacky.

[dixiegrrrrl]

12. Gov. declared several counties as disaster areas

so that is first step.
Altho disaster seems too mild a word for today's events.

[hrmjustin]

3. Heartbreaking!

[siligut]

5. A little about Briarwood Elementary school

Authorities said Briarwood Elementary School in Moore, Okla., received a "direct hit" from the storm and was severely damaged. In anticipation of the severe weather this afternoon, schools in the Moore area did not release their students at the end of the school day, according to Oklahoma Emergency Management officials.

One sixth grade boy named Brady told ABC affiliate KOCO-TV in Oklahoma City that he and other students took cover in a bathroom.

"Cinderblocks and everything collapsed on them but they were underneath so that kind of saved them a little bit, but I mean they were trapped in there," he said.

[Horse with no Name]

6. I think everyone is going to second guess this decision to keep the kids

but they reasonably stood a better chance in the school than they did on the road.

I can't imagine the situation that they all found themselves in. It was a no-win situation for the school administrators.

[siligut]

7. Oh my, yes, I agree

A very difficult situation.

[Texasgal]

8. I agree... this was not something

they could have predicted.

I know that fault will have to fall somewhere, but I agree. This was a special circumstance. Either way it's very sad.

[denverbill]

11. I completely disagree with that.

They had a huge tornado there not 20 years ago. How much would it have cost to build safe rooms in the schools?

If I lived in OK and had school aged kids, I'd be demanding a school that can safely shelter every person in that school. Schools should be the sturdiest buildings in town.

[Texasgal]

13. I agree that safe rooms should have been built

but to keep the kids in school was appropriate at the time.

Having a bunch of school buses and parents picking up kids in the streets with a storm looming was a choice they had to make. These kids would have been no safer in Moms car on on the bus.

Tornado's are very unpredictable, you do not know exactly where they will hit. I feel awful for the school brass that had to make this decision. It's heartbreaking.

Just to be clear, I do not disagree with you on safe storm shelters, I cannot imagine why they would not have required this.

[Horse with no Name]

15. Not to mention the kids that go home to nobody

where parents work.

It is hard to randomly send elementary age kids home when nobody is home to get them.

[madokie]

16. In my hometown of Locust Grove, Ok

the recently finished grade school is a series of inter connected round masonry building with dome roofs. The new high school that is in the pre building stage right now, clearing out/tearing down the old middle school, with construction to begin this fall is also going to be built the same way. Round masonry buildings with domed roofs have been shown to be good for surviving a tornado.

[laundry_queen]

9. I was kind of wondering

why they didn't release the kids at noon? I think they did that in that super outbreak in Alabama 2 years ago when it was predicted there was a very high chance of tornadoes that day. I thought because this was also predicted well in advance they'd have done that, although to be fair, chances are a lot of the kids' houses were probably destroyed as well. I just think they'd have had a better chance at home since larger buildings with steel construction are usually pretty vulnerable, and most homes in the area had 'safe rooms' thanks to the tornado in 1999.

[spanone]

14. ...

[AverageJoe90]

17. It's 51 now.........damn.

[City Lights]

18. msnbc saying it's up to 51 now. nt

[Horse with no Name]

20. I just saw a local source that has confirmed 91...n/t