Tornado Season Continues Its Toll: At Least Two More Deaths From Wednesday's Storms

UPDATE:

Screen grab showing just one of many examples of 
tornado damage in Oklahoma from Wednesday night. 

The death toll rose to three from the tornadoes in Oklahoma Wednesday night. 

Meanwhile, a new tornado watch was issued this afternoon for northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin.

As of 4 p.m. there were already a couple of tornado warnings in western Illinois, meaning tornadoes had been detected or radar indicated they were forming. 

The tornado watch goes until 8 p.m. tonight, so we'll see how this plays out. 

PREVIOUS DISCUSSION: 

After a semi-break in destructive tornadoes for the past week or two, more deadly twisters struck Wednesday, killing at least two people, unfortunately. 

The deaths were reported in the tiny town of Cole, Oklahoma, population about 600. Close range, don't-try-this-at-home video shot by Reed Timmer shows extreme winds from the large, slow moving tornado shredding buildings, trees and power lines in Cole. 

CNN reported that systematic searches were still ongoing in Cole this morning.  The death toll could rise, and people who had gotten trapped by debris covering storm shelters were being rescued. s 

Another tornado struck the much larger city of Shawnee, Oklahoma, population about 30,000, roughly 30 miles east of Oklahoma City.  Widespread damage was reported there, including to Oklahoma Baptist University. 

Wednesday's tornado in Shawnee comes just nine years after another twister leveled parts of that city. 

Tornadoes were also reported in Kansas and Iowa on Wednesday. 

I don't know whether the Oklahoma deaths were because the victims didn't hear the warnings or had no place to go to be safe.  (A tornado warning had been issued before the twister struck Cole). 

As NPR reported, the accuracy and timeliness of tornado warnings has gotten much better in recent years and decades. But people, especially in low income, rural areas, often have poor cell phone service and no storm sirens, so they don't hear the warnings. 

Weather radios are a godsend in those situations, but only three to four percent of households have them.  They're inexpensive, and especially for people in weaker housing like mobile homes, the ability to get warnings can buy people time to get to safer storm shelters.

Indiana lawmakers had a great idea that should spread: All new mobile homes there are now required to be equipped with weather radios. 

Today's severe weather threat will shift to a broad zone from eastern Texas to Illinois, but as of this morning not many tornadoes are expected for later in the day. 

As usual for this time of year, there's pretty much a daily threat for severe storms and possibly tornadoes for at least the next week, and probably beyond. 

Before Wednesday's tornadoes, the death toll from United States twisters so far this year was already up to 63.  We still have not yet hit the normal peak season for tornadoes, which is usually during the month of May.