WOODWARD, OKLA. (AP) -- Officials in Woodward, OK have confirmed that 29 people were injured by a tornado that killed five people early Sunday morning.
Two of those killed were children.
Woodward County Emergency Management Director Matt Lehenbauer said Sunday the number of injured increased from earlier reports of 20.
Woodward's Mayor Roscoe Hill, who is also a member of the Woodward Regional Hospital board, said that seven people were critically injured in the deadly storm. Two of those seven were air-lifted to nearby hospitals.
The town's Police Chief Harvey Rutherford said that three of the five deaths occurred at the mobile home park.
He said the other two were killed in a rural area about six miles southwest of Woodward.
Authorities say a signal tower for the town's tornado sirens was struck by lightning and hit by a tornado early Sunday morning, which affected the signal to warn people of the dangerous storm.
Chief Rutherford said he didn't know how many sirens or which sirens were affected by the outage, and some residents have still reported hearing mangled sirens before the tornado.
He adds, that considering that the tornado struck at night and that the sirens were damaged it's remarkable that there wasn't a greater loss of life.
He says the town "had the hand of God to take care of us."
Pronews 7 spoke directly to the American Red Cross Chapter in Woodward, and they say they are beginning to set up a shelter and help assist in disaster relief, and other chapters from all other the state including Guymon, and Oklahoma City are on site to help.
We have also been told that several first responders from the Guymon area have left to help those in Woodward.
Several residents in the Texas Panhandle have expressed concern over loved ones in Woodward. You can call the American Red Cross at 580-256-3828 for help in locating them.
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