Shawnee News

The Moore, Oklahoma tornado, which killed 24 people, was the deadliest to touch down during a nearly weeklong outbreak across the U.S. Midwest.

There are likely millions of stories that we can tell about the tornadoes that hit both Shawnee on Sunday and Moore on Monday.

For former Shawnee police officer Jeff Rodgers and his wife, Dawna, the days of huddling in a hallway, covering themselves with mattresses and strapping on motorcycle helmets as a storm barrels down are over.

Governor Mary Fallin and other officials held a press briefing on Thursday to update the relief efforts of the deadly tornadoes from Sunday and Monday.

In the wake of the May 20 tornadoes that swept through parts of the Midwest and specifically Moore, Okla., where at least 24 people were killed, The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and Concordia Publishing House are providing resources for congregational and individual use.

The Oklahoma Insurance Department says a preliminary estimate suggests the cost of the tornado that hit the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore could be more than $2 billion.

Tornadoes destroyed homes and tossed trees around like toothpicks as powerful storms ripped through Oklahoma and the Midwest on Sunday and Monday.

Johnson County trucking company owner Chris Blair said, he was concerned that one of his drivers could be headed into a tornado Sunday outside Shawnee, Okla.

The service will honor and remember the victims of the May 20 tornado that killed 24 people in Moore and the May 19 tornado that killed 2 in Shawnee.

The Oklahoma tornadoes displaced families and destroyed homes, but another facet of the tragedy saw hundreds of people separated from pets and searching in vain for family photos.

The devastation left behind the massive tornadoes that hit Moore, OK and the surrounding areas on May 19 leveled homes, flattened trees and killed more than 20 people, many of them children.

Crews are working along a 20-mile path of destruction that starts near Lake Thunderbird and ends just west of Shawnee.

WMFD staff Meteorologist Michael Joyce just happened to be on vacation this week in Oklahoma participating in meteorology training and storm chasing when the mammoth Oklahoma tornado formed.

Exxon Mobil Corporation announced it will donate $500,000 to the American Red Cross to provide disaster relief assistance in response to the recent tornadoes in Oklahoma and the southwest United States.

PHOTO COURTESY SUSIE MACON Stormin' Norman twister - A family friend snapped this photo as a tornado formed over Norman, Okla., May 19, where DeLandite Susie Macon was visiting.

Aid groups are mobilizing relief efforts to help victims of the storm. Here, Candice Lopez, left, and Stephanie Davis help clean debris from Thelma Cox's mobile home near Shawnee, Okla., after it was destroyed Monday.

Residents of Edmond, Okla., survey storm damage from a tornado that hit their neighborhood Sunday, May 19, 2013.

While many people in Lubbock want to donate household items and send truckloads of donations to Moore, Oklahoma, the Red Cross is saying that could hinder the relief efforts more than help.

The search and rescue mission continues this evening after a massive tornado touched down Monday afternoon.

Watch a time lapse of the deadly tornado that had 270 km/ph winds,stayed on the ground for 40 minutes and traveled 32 klms.