Oklahoma Towns Hit by Tornadoes Begin Long Cleanup after 4 Killed

Sean Thomas Sledd salvages items from his room after it was hit by a tornado the night before in Sulphur, Okla., Sunday, April 28, 2024. Sledd sought shelter at Oklahoma School for the deaf. (Bryan Terry/The Oklahoman via AP)
Sean Thomas Sledd salvages items from his room after it was hit by a tornado the night before in Sulphur, Okla., Sunday, April 28, 2024. Sledd sought shelter at Oklahoma School for the deaf. (Bryan Terry/The Oklahoman via AP)
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Oklahoma Towns Hit by Tornadoes Begin Long Cleanup after 4 Killed

Sean Thomas Sledd salvages items from his room after it was hit by a tornado the night before in Sulphur, Okla., Sunday, April 28, 2024. Sledd sought shelter at Oklahoma School for the deaf. (Bryan Terry/The Oklahoman via AP)
Sean Thomas Sledd salvages items from his room after it was hit by a tornado the night before in Sulphur, Okla., Sunday, April 28, 2024. Sledd sought shelter at Oklahoma School for the deaf. (Bryan Terry/The Oklahoman via AP)

Small towns in Oklahoma began a long cleanup Monday after tornadoes flattened homes and buildings and killed four people, including an infant, widening a destructive outbreak of severe weather across the middle of the US.

Punishing storms that began late Saturday in Oklahoma injured at least 100 people, damaged a rural hospital, washed out roads and knocked out power to more than 40,000 customers at one point, state officials said. Tornadoes on Friday in Iowa and Nebraska also caused wide destruction and were blamed for one death, The Associated Press reported.

The destruction was extensive in Sulphur, a town of about 5,000 people south of Oklahoma City, where a tornado crumpled many downtown buildings, tossed cars and buses and sheared the roofs off houses across a 15-block radius.

“You just can't believe the destruction,” Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt said during a visit to the hard-hit town. “It seems like every business downtown has been destroyed.”

Stitt said about 30 people were injured in Sulphur, including some who were in a bar as the tornado struck. Hospitals across the state reported about 100 injuries, including people apparently cut or struck by debris, according to the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management. An infant was among those killed, Hughes County Emergency Management Director Mike Dockrey told Oklahoma television station KOCO.

White House officials said President Joe Biden spoke to Stitt on Sunday and offered the full support of the federal government.

The deadly weather in Oklahoma added to the dozens of reported tornadoes that have wreaked havoc in the nation's midsection since Friday. Another death was reported Sunday in Iowa, where officials in Pottawattamie County said a man critically injured during a tornado Friday had died.

In Oklahoma, authorities said the tornado in Sulphur began in a city park before barreling through the downtown, flipping cars and ripping the roofs and walls off of brick buildings. Windows and doors were blown out of structures that remained standing.

Farther north, a tornado near the town of Holdenville killed two people and damaged or destroyed more than a dozen homes, according to the Hughes County Emergency Medical Service. Another person was killed along Interstate 35 near the southern Oklahoma city of Marietta, state officials said.

Heavy rains that swept into Oklahoma with the tornadoes also caused dangerous flooding and water rescues. Outside Sulphur, rising lake levels shut down the Chickasaw National Recreation Area, where the storms wiped out a pedestrian bridge.

Stitt issued an executive order Sunday declaring a state of emergency in 12 counties due to the fallout from the severe weather.
Residents in other states were also digging out from storm damage. A tornado in suburban Omaha, Nebraska, demolished homes and businesses Saturday as it moved for miles through farmland and into subdivisions, then slammed an Iowa town.

The tornado damage began Friday afternoon near Lincoln, Nebraska. An industrial building in Lancaster County was hit, causing it to collapse with 70 people inside. Several were trapped, but everyone was evacuated, and the three injuries were not life-threatening, authorities said.

One or possibly two tornadoes then spent around an hour creeping toward Omaha, leaving behind damage consistent with an EF3 twister, with winds of 135 to 165 mph (217 to 265 kph), said Chris Franks, a meteorologist in the National Weather Service’s Omaha office.
Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen and Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds spent Saturday touring the damage and arranging for assistance for the damaged communities. Formal damage assessments are still underway, but the states plan to seek federal help.



Iran Confirms Meeting European Officials on Friday

FILE PHOTO: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi meets with Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji (unseen) in Beirut, Lebanon June 3, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi meets with Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji (unseen) in Beirut, Lebanon June 3, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
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Iran Confirms Meeting European Officials on Friday

FILE PHOTO: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi meets with Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji (unseen) in Beirut, Lebanon June 3, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi meets with Lebanese Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji (unseen) in Beirut, Lebanon June 3, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi confirmed on Thursday he would meet his British, French and German counterparts as well as the European Union's top diplomat on Friday in Geneva, Iranian state media reported.

He said the meeting had come at the request of the three European states.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard on Thursday warned the US again to avoid getting directly involved in the conflict between Iran and Israel, saying in a statement that “direct” role by the Americans would “expand the conflict to the region.”

“We warn the criminal United States: any direct involvement in this war would lead to its expansion across the region and will result in severe and irreparable blows,” the guard said in a statement carried by Iranian state TV.

The warning echoes recent statements made by other Iranian officials, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and comes as US President Donald Trump has said he’s not looking for a fight with Iran but stands ready to act if necessary.