Five dead as new tornadoes slam Oklahoma

At least five people have been killed, including a mother and child, after multiple toadoes brought more devastation to Oklahoma.

The deadly twisters struck Oklahoma City during the evening rush hour on Friday, less than two weeks after 23 were killed by a powerful toado in the nearby city of Moore.

Emergency officials said dozens of people were injured, five critically, when the toado swept along a major highway between El Reno and Yukon near Union City.

The bodies of a woman and child were found among the wreckage after a number of vehicles were overtued by the monstrous toado.

One motorist described seeing ‘power flashes to the north’ as a toado waing alert was issued, with many motorists pulling off the road onto grass.

Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Coett said: ‘For reasons that are not clear to me, more people took to the roads, more than we expected.

‘Everyone acted differently in this storm, and as a result, it created an extremely dangerous situation.

Cloud-to-ground lightning strikes before the toado (Picture: Reuters)

‘I think we are still a little shaken by what happened in Moore. We are still burying children and victims, so our emotions are still strong.’

More than 60,000 homes have been left without power in the region, while heavy rain has caused severe flooding, hampering rescue attempts.

‘We’re scrambling around,’ said Lara O’Leary, a spokeswoman for the local ambulance agency. ‘There is very low visibility with the heavy rain … so we’re having trouble getting around.’

‘The damage is very, very widespread.’

The region is in part of the Midwest known as Toado Alley. The US averages more than 1,200 toadoes a year and most are relatively small.