clinging to hope: Hunt goes on for missing children as tornado flattens school

Frantic families who rushed to Plaza Towers Elementary School, which had been in the direct path of the twister that tore through the town of Moore, faced an agonising wait to hear whether their children would be among the survivors whose names were called out through a megaphone.

Several pupils were pulled out alive from the rubble but a number of their classmates were feared dead. Seven youngsters were reportedly found drowned in a pool of water after pipes burst in the wreckage on Monday night.

The half-mile wide EF-4 tornado – the second-most powerful – tore the roof off the school, knocked down walls and reduced the playground to a mangle of twisted plastic and metal.

At least 24 lives were claimed by the storm, which whipped the Oklahoma City suburb with winds of 200mph, reducing homes and businesses to splinters

The death toll was earlier thought to be as high as 90, but the figure was revised by the state medical examiner’s office, which said it believed some victims had been counted twice.

More than 120 people were being treated at hospitals, including about 50 children.

President Barack Obama declared a major disaster and ordered federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts.

State governor Mary Fallin said the search for survivors went on and rescuers were “looking under every single piece of debris for the missing”.

“Our hearts are broken for the parents wondering about the state of their children that had been in the schools hit today,” she said. “I know there are families wondering where their loved ones are.”

Obama praises rescuers: Page 5.