Oklahoma City Declares Flood Emergency As Tornadoes, Storm And Flash Floods Hit Plains; At Least 12 Injured

Oklahoma City declared a flood emergency Wednesday due to severe storms and tornadoes, which caused flash floods in the region. Governor Mary Fallin, who is set to visit the affected areas on Thursday, had reached the emergency operations center on Wednesday night to check for any problems being faced by the staff, News 9, a local news network, reported.

No deaths were immediately reported from the tornadoes that hit Oklahoma and parts of Kansas and Nebraska, according to the Associated Press (AP). At least 12 people were injured and transported to hospitals from a damaged trailer park in the city, the AP reported, citing Lara O'Leary, a spokeswoman for Emergency Medical Services Authority in the Oklahoma City area said Wednesday night, adding that she did not know the extent of the patients' injuries. She added that the company helped rescue people from “all over” the city. Two ambulance crews also reportedly needed aid after getting stuck in high water.

A warning for flash floods has been announced in parts of six counties in central Oklahoma until 9:00 a.m. Thursday, the AP reported.

City spokesman Kristy Yager said, according to the AP, that this is the first flood emergency to be declared in the city. Meteorologist Michael Scotten with the National Weather Service in Norman also reportedly said that the weather service in the area has received reports of trouble with several power lines across Interstate 35 and information about overturned vehicles in the region.

"There's debris just everywhere, and there's a lot of water on the roadways," Capt. Paul Timmons of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, said, according to CNN.

The Will Rogers World Airport in the city canceled all the flights from its premises on Wednesday night and had to conduct an evacuation due to twisters approaching the area, CNN reported.

Preliminary estimates of the destruction caused by the tornadoes showed that at least 10 homes were destroyed or suffered major damage in the town of Amber and 25 other houses were damaged in Bridge Creek, the AP reported, citing Dale Thompson, director of Grady County emergency services.

According to the Weather Channel, at least 30 tornadoes hit the Plains on Wednesday and one person was reportedly hurt in Burr Oak, Kansas. In South Dakota’s Cherry Creek, three people were hurt after a community center roof collapsed due to thunderstorm winds.

A zoo, 25 miles southwest of Oklahoma City, was hit by a twister, the AP reported, adding that the site was being inspected by officials. Alisa Voegeli, a dispatcher at the sheriff's office, reportedly asked people to stay indoors while the zoo's owner and a deputy inspected the damage. The Weather Channel reported that the animals from the zoo were on loose before the officials could wrangle them.

Here are some tweets showing the damage caused due to the storms.