"Albert Ashwood, director of the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management, said Tuesday there were no safe rooms in the two schools leveled by the tornado.
Speaking at a public news briefing, Ashwood said hundreds of schools across the state have installed reinforced tornado shelters, but Plaza Towers Elementary and Briarwood Elementary were not among them."
With state officials acknowledging that two elementary schools destroyed by Monday's tornado had no safe rooms, some lawmakers began pressing to increase the number of shelters and provide funds to build them. Rep.
"Jessica’s father was at home when the tornado hit and hid in the bathroom. It was the only room in the house where the roof wasn't entirely ripped off, and her father survived.
“It makes you feel blessed,” Ellerd said. She gestured toward the house. “This is just stuff.”
An Oklahoma City energy giant, a veterans group, and a superstar athlete have each announced three separate $1 million gifts to aid storm relief efforts following Monday's tornado that killed dozens in Moore.
Chesapeake Energy Corp. announced this morning it will donate $1 million to the American Red Cross to help in the rescue and recovery efforts in Moore.
The oil and gas company says it's also organizing hundreds of employee volunteers to help in the relief effort.
Oklahoma City residents are being asked to help conserve water while power remains out at one of the city's main water treatment facilities.
City officials say rain and lightning during Monday night's storm delayed progress to restore power at the Draper Water Treatment Plant.
City spokeswoman Debbie Ragan says low water pressure is being reported in downtown Oklahoma City, the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and the state Capitol complex.
Ragan says city officials hope to have power restored by Tuesday afternoon.
U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) says that any additional federal aid to help tornado victims and to rebuild devastated areas of his state should be financed with cuts to other programs in the government's $3.6 trillion budget.
Spokesman John Hart says it's a position Coburn has consistently held regarding federal spending on disasters dating to the 1995 bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City.
Eleven-year-old Gavin Hawkins and his dad, Joel, stand near the rubble of the Plaza Tower Elementary School. Joel rushed to the school to pick up his son before the storm hit.
StateImpact Oklahoma's Joe Wertz took cover in Moore on his drive home from KGOU Monday afternoon. Once the tornado passed, he immediately went to work reporting for Oklahoma's public radio stations and NPR.
Gov. Mary Fallin is touring the areas hit hard by tornadoes Sunday.
The governor visited Carney at 10 a.m. Monday before traveling to the Shawnee area. The governor plans to tour the Steelman Estates Mobile Home Park in Shawnee, where two people were killed.
Twenty-one people were also injured after severe weather raked the state.
