Oklahoma tornado damage could top $2 billion

At sunrise, police patrol a partially-destroyed row of houses adjacent to a group of homes completely leveled on Monday when a tornado moved through Moore, Okla., Wednesday, May 22, 2013. The huge tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburb, flattening a wide swath of homes and businesse…

Oklahoma tornado damage could top $2 billion

The wreckage of homes litters a playground adjacent to a neighborhood which was destroyed Monday when a tornado moved through Moore, Okla., Wednesday, May 22, 2013. The huge tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburb, flattening a wide swath of homes and businesses. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

Oklahoma tornado damage could top $2 billion

MOORE, Okla. | The tornado that tore through an Oklahoma City suburb destroyed or damaged as many as 13,000 homes and may have caused $2 billion in overall damage, officials said Wednesday.

One block: How neighbors saw twister's deadly path

The body of Buster, Wayne Osmus' pit-chow mix, lies under a pile of rubble near his Moore, Okla., home on Tuesday, May 21, 2013. The dog died when he was caught out in Monday's EF5 tornado that flattened much of the Oklahoma City suburb. (AP Photo/Allen Breed)

One block: How neighbors saw twister's deadly path

Wayne Osmus holds up an ivory-handled knife that he salvaged from the wrecked of his home in Moore, Okla., on Tuesday, May 21, 2013. Osmus' family was forced to hide in a closet Monday when winds prevented them from taking refuge in an underground shelter. (AP Photo/Allen Breed)

One block: How neighbors saw twister's deadly path

MOORE, Okla. | Dan Garland could feel the latch on the shelter door begin to turn in his hand. It was as if the storm outside were a living, breathing thing — and it was trying desperately to get in.

One block: How neighbors saw twister's deadly path

Colleen Perdue stands at the door of a closet in her devastated home in Moore, Okla., on Tuesday, May 21, 2013. She and her husband were cowering on the floor under a blanket Monday when an EF5 tornado ripped apart their home and much of their town. (AP Photo/Allen Breed)

One block: How neighbors saw twister's deadly path

Kevin Metz shows holds up a stopped clock he found in the rubble of his father's home in Moore, Okla., on Tuesday, May 21, 2013. Monday's EF5 tornado destroyed Wayne Osmus' home and much of the Oklahoma City suburb. (AP Photo/Allen Breed)

One block: How neighbors saw twister's deadly path

A brick mailbox lies flattened in front of what used to be Dan and Rebecca Garland's home in Moore, Okla., on Tuesday, May 21, 2013. Nearly a dozen neighbors and relatives took refuge in the family's storm shelter during Monday's deadly EF5 tornado. (AP Photo/Allen Breed)

Oklahoma tornado damage could top $2 billion

Brian Mullins and his Father Terry survey tornado damage to the home of Brian's girlfriend Sara Robinson, right, on Tuesday, May 21, 2013 in Moore, Okla. (AP Photo/The Oklahoman, Steve Sisney)

Oklahoma tornado damage could top $2 billion

Jeff Thayer, right, and his son Heath look at a tornado-ravaged pickup truck belonging to another son Tuesday, May 21, 2013, in Moore, Okla. A huge tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburb Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods and destroying an elementary school with a direct blow a…

Oklahoma tornado damage could top $2 billion

Penny Phillips throws out a bag of salvaged clothing as she goes through the remains of her home on Tuesday, May 21, 2013 in Moore, Okla. that was destroyed by Monday's tornado in the area near 4th and Bryant. (AP Photo/The Oklahoman, Chris Landsberger)

Okla. City suburb wraps up search for bodies, survivors

MOORE, Okla. | Helmeted rescue workers raced Tuesday to complete the search for survivors and the dead in the Oklahoma City suburb where a mammoth tornado destroyed countless homes, cleared lots down to bare red earth and claimed 24 lives, including those of nine children.

Miles and minutes: Okla. tornado by the numbers

A tornado moves past homes in Moore, Okla. on Monday, May 20, 2013. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)

Fire chief says search almost complete in Oklahoma

Zac Woodcock salvages items from the rubble of a tornado-ravaged rental home which they own Tuesday, May 21, 2013, in Moore, Okla. A huge tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburb Monday, flattening an entire neighborhoods and destroying an elementary school with a direct blow as child…

Fire chief says search almost complete in Oklahoma

Justin Stehan salvages photographs from his tornado-ravaged home Tuesday in Moore, Okla.

Fire chief says search almost complete in Oklahoma

Jimmy Hodges helps Chad Heltcel and his wife Cassidi salvage the wreckage of Chad Heltcel's family home, which was destroyed Monday when a tornado moved through Moore, Okla., Tuesday, May 21, 2013. The huge tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburb, flattening entire neighborhoods and …

Fire chief says search almost complete in Oklahoma

The rubble of a destroyed neighborhood lay mixed together where it fell Tuesday, May 21, 2013 a day after a tornado moved through Moore, Okla. The huge tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburb Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods and destroying an elementary school with a direct bl…

Miles and minutes: Okla. tornado by the numbers

MOORE, Okla. | An exceptionally devastating tornado hit the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore on Monday afternoon, twisting through subdivisions and across a highway, leaving debris and confusion in its wake. Some of the storm's effects can be measured in numbers:

Power of Moore tornado dwarfs Hiroshima bomb

WASHINGTON | Wind, humidity and rainfall combined precisely to create the massive killer tornado in Moore, Okla. And when they did, the awesome amount of energy released over that city dwarfed the power of the atomic bomb that leveled Hiroshima.