ISTANBUL (AP) Violence has flared in Istanbul between a group of demonstrators and police on the fourth day of protests set off by a brutal police crackdown of a peaceful environmental protest.
The private Dogan news agency said police fired tear gas at the group in an area close to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Istanbul offices on Monday. The protesters responded by hurling stones.
The agency said as many as 500 protesters were detained overnight Monday after police broke up a protests by several thousands of people in the capital Ankara. Turkey's Fox television reported 300 others detained in a similar crackdown in Izmir, Turkey's third largest city.
The demonstrations that grew out of anger over excessive police force have spiraled into Turkey's biggest anti-government demonstrations in years, challenging Erdogan's power.
BEIJING (AP) A large fire broke out at a poultry farm and processing plant in northeastern China early Monday, trapping workers inside large concrete buildings and killing at least 61 people, reports and officials said.
The fire in Jilin province's Mishazi township appeared to have been sparked by three early-morning explosions in the farm's electrical system, the official Xinhua News Agency said. State broadcaster CCTV quoted unidentified workers as saying the fire broke out during a change of shifts and may have originated in a locker room at a time when about 350 workers were at the site.
The provincial fire department said on its microblog that the fire was caused by a leak of ammonia.
The fire killed 61 people, according to a posting on the Jilin provincial government's official microblog. Calls to fire and rescue services rang unanswered and hospital administrators said they had no information about injuries among the dozens of people reportedly sent for treatment.
Rescue workers found the bodies in the charred buildings, and rescue efforts were continuing. CCTV footage showed dark smoke billowing up from the cement structures.
Xinhua quoted survivors as saying that the plant's "complicated" interior, narrow exits and a locked front gate made escape difficult.
The fire highlighted the lax safety standards at many Chinese workplaces. It could also focus renewed scrutiny on China's biggest pork producer, Shuanghui International unrelated to the poultry plant as it aims to buy U.S. food giant Smithfield in what would be China's biggest takeover of an American company.
The poultry plant's owner, Jilin Baoyuanfeng Poultry Co., is a major producer of processed chicken and employs about 1,200 people. The plant is located outside the city of Dehui, about 800 kilometers (250 miles) northeast of China's capital, Beijing.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) Just back from his part-time home in Mexico, former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura dangled the idea Friday that he could run for the U.S. presidency in 2016.
Ventura eagerly volunteered the possibility while at Minnesota's Capitol and pushed back against skepticism that he would re-enter the political fray after being out of office since 2003. It's hardly the first time the publicity savvy Ventura has broached the idea he would run for the White House or Senate, only to pass on a campaign.
He said the next race is "an opportune time" for an independent like him to run because there will be no incumbent. He said he's approached radio shock jock Howard Stern about being his running mate, and Stern expressed interest.
An email message seeking comment from Stern's agent was left Friday night by The Associated Press.
"The key to this next election I think will be a candidate who doesn't belong to a political party and who has the ability to rise above the mainstream and get the press, which I've never had a problem doing," Ventura said.
He said he would run on an anti-war platform, and his first act would be to close the military prison in Guantanamo Bay and return the naval base to Cuba.
The former actor and ex-pro wrestler won election in 1999 in Minnesota as a Reform Party candidate, but he later disavowed party ties. He didn't seek re-election after his term. He went on to host a short-lived television talk show and more recently a cable TV program on conspiracy theories. Ventura now splits his time between Minnesota and Mexico, where he's surfs and golfs.
Tanned and relaxed, the 62-year-old Ventura pulled up his tie-dye shirt at one point to show off his toned abdomen muscles to prove he was in good health.
He was at the Capitol to mark the retirement of a veteran gubernatorial bodyguard.
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) Damaging winds flattened trees and utility wires and knocked out power in parts of northern New England on Sunday, flights were delayed in New York City and there were reports of a tornado in South Carolina as the East Coast weathered the remnants of violent storms that claimed 13 lives in Oklahoma.
Heavy rain, thunderstorms, high winds and hail moved through sections of the Northeast on Sunday afternoon, knocking out power to more than 40,000 in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. The National Weather Service issued a rare tornado warning as a line of thunderstorms raced through New Hampshire into western Maine. The National Weather Service said a tornado warning was issued as radar indicated a possible tornado moving from Kingfield, Maine, to Bingham, Maine. The tornado was not immediately confirmed.
In northwestern South Carolina, authorities checked unconfirmed reports of a tornado, said Jessica Ashley, a shift supervisor for Anderson County's 911 center. The fire department responded to a report of roof damage to a home and callers said trees were blown over. No injuries were reported.
The weather service said thunderstorms and winds in excess of 60 mph in Vermont produced 1-inch-diameter hail and knocked down numerous trees and wires. In northern Maine, radar picked up a line of thunderstorms capable of producing quarter-sized hail and winds stronger than 70 mph. Forecasters warned of tornadoes.
The prediction for stormy weather in the New York City region produced delays at major airports. La Guardia Airport and Newark Liberty Airport in New Jersey had delays of up to 90 minutes, while John F. Kennedy International had delays of about 30 minutes. Outside Washington, delays were up to nearly two hours at Dulles Airport.
Patrick Herb, 34, was traveling from Dulles with his 1- and 3-year-old to his home in Wisconsin, and had his departure time for a connecting flight in Detroit moved back three times. He described the mood at Dulles as "frustration and fatigue."
"The communication is honestly one of the most frustrating parts of travel," Herb said. "I'm sort of pessimistic it will get off on time."
In the southern part of the United States, thunderstorms, high winds and hail were expected as part of a slow-moving cold front. Heavy rains could spawn flash flooding in some areas, the weather service said.
Meanwhile, residents in Oklahoma cleaned up after the storms there killed 13 people, including three veteran storm chasers. Tim Samaras; his son, Paul Samaras; and Carl Young were killed Friday. The Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., said the men were involved in tornado research.
Jim Samaras told The Associated Press on Sunday that his brother Tim was motivated by science.
"He looked at tornadoes not for the spotlight of TV but for the scientific aspect," Jim Samaras said. "At the end of the day, he wanted to save lives and he gave the ultimate sacrifice for that."
Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin toured damage in El Reno, about 30 miles from Oklahoma City. She said the death toll could rise as emergency workers continue searching flooded areas for missing residents.
The state Medical Examiner's Office spokeswoman Amy Elliott said the death toll had risen to 13 from Friday's EF3 tornado, which charged down a clogged Interstate 40 in the western suburbs. Among the dead were two children an infant sucked out of the car with its mother and a 4-year-old boy who along with his family had sought shelter in a drainage ditch.
In Missouri, areas west of St. Louis received significant damage from an EF3 tornado Friday that packed estimated winds of 150 mph. In St. Charles County, at least 71 homes were heavily damaged and 100 had slight to moderate damage, county spokeswoman Colene McEntee said.
Northeast of St. Louis, the town of Roxana, Ill., also saw damage from an EF3 tornado. Weather service meteorologist Jayson Gosselin said it wasn't clear whether the damage in Missouri and Illinois came from the same twister or separate ones.
Five tornadoes struck the Oklahoma City metro area on Friday, the weather service said. Fallin said Sunday that 115 people were injured.
The storms formed out on the prairie west of Oklahoma City, giving residents plenty of advance notice. When told to seek shelter, many ventured out and snarled traffic across the metro area perhaps remembering when a tornado hit Moore on May 20 and killed 24 people.
Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Betsy Randolph said roadways quickly became congested with the convergence of rush-hour traffic and fleeing residents.
"They had no place to go, and that's always a bad thing. They were essentially targets just waiting for a tornado to touch down," Randolph said. "I'm not sure why people do that sort of stuff, but it is very dangerous."
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Associated Press writers Thomas Peipert in Denver, Jim Suhr in St. Louis, Sean Murphy in El Reno, Okla., Tom McElroy in New York and AP Radio correspondent Julie Walker contributed to this report.
by Jason Gilbert | @YahooTechIf you check Twitter even semi-frequently, you've probably come across Rob Delaney's bulge. The L.A.-based standup comedian's Twitter avatar -- a photo of the comic on a beach, in a speedo, from his nose down to his bare thighs -- is somewhat omnipresent on the social media site, thanks to the high amount of shares his bawdy, profane and occasionally incisive tweets attract. His knack for tweeting has boosted his follower count up toward a million, and has landed him gigs on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Conan and several other national TV shows. Not bad for a guy who was struggling to make a living doing standup five years ago.We talked to Mr. Delaney about his rise to fame on both Twitter and in the real world; his recent, inspired takeover of the @MLB Twitter account; and why he hates Walmart so much. You can read it all below, and follow Rob on Twitter right here. When did you first hear about Twitter and what did you think about it?
I think I first heard about it in 2008, and at that point nobody had any idea of the potential. What I was hearing about it was that it was the worst of mass texts. It was introduced so that every tweet made your phone buzz, and told you that your friend Susie was having Pad Thai with her cousin Eric; and I thought if my phone ever did that, I would throw it in the garbage disposal.
So my earliest impressions of Twitter were similar to what a lot of people thought, which was that it was a mass text message board that anytime someone you were friends with farted, you would find out about it.
And as much as I enjoy my friends farts, I want to savor them, I want them to be special, you know?
A lot of people know you solely from your Twitter account. How would you introduce yourself to a reader who isn t familiar with you?
The most important three things about me are, I m a dad, a husband and a comedian. I think that s about it. I m mostly boring compared to all the garbage that you read about online. I ve always been a weirdo.
Why do you say that you ve always been a weirdo?
I ve always enjoyed silly, funny, outrageous, insane things for their entertainment value. I m addicted to laughing and making other people laugh so I spend most of my waking moments either trying to make funny things or consume them -- for better or for worse. My life has a singular focus, certainly.
If I were a woman, when I encountered sexism I d be like BRB, I m gonna go *MAKE A HUMAN* IN MY BODY LIKE A MAGICAL GOD, YOU SAD OAF.
rob delaney (@robdelaney) August 9, 2012What were you doing before Twitter?
Standup and trying to get hired for late-night shows. I had been doing standup for some years before Twitter and -- you know, I was getting paid to do it, but not enough to live. I don t know if you ve seen Mike Birbiglia s film Sleepwalk with Me, but it s superb, and there are literally scenes where his traveling standup gigs result in a net negative, where you re paid less than it cost to get there. And I definitely had plenty of those.
I m guessing Twitter has changed that.
Yeah, very, very dramatically. I am able to now sell places out on the road, which is the greatest thing that ever happened, as far I m concerned. It s afforded me insane opportunities. As I said, I was pursuing all the classic avenues that a comedian does to make a living beforehand, but Twitter pretty much pole-vaulted me into another universe. So I m very cognizant of that.
You re sort of a poster boy for the success a comedian can have by making himself known through Twitter. Has anyone from Twitter reached out to you?
I was summoned to headquarters maybe a year-and-a-half ago and we just shot the breeze. They kinda wanted to know what I liked about it, what I didn t like. And we just sort of had a little brain-smush together, and that was fun. Any time I ve interacted with anyone who works at Twitter-- you know, they re pretty youth-savvy and interesting and interested in what I m doing and what people are doing with Twitter.
I m curious to hear what you told them you didn t like.
I told them that for my purposes, I need no bells and whistles. I am after the pure experience of what can I get in 140 characters. Twitter for me could be a white box that I put jokes in. I m very interested, of course, in how many people share my jokes or are retweeting, but that s literally the only bell I need. I need no others.
But I don t have any real standing complaints about Twitter. If I graded it as a service I might give it an A, instead of an A+; but, you know, what is perfect in this world, other than Adele s porcelain complexion and melodious voice? Not much.
When are we going to see a Rob Delaney show?
I don t know! I just wrote a pilot for the BBC. And I just gave that to them. Maybe they ll like that, maybe they won t, but it was my latest effort to make a television show. It s a sitcom about a husband and a wife and their children.
Do you have a British accent?
No, I m American in it. I m American, and my wife is Sharon Horgan, and she s Irish. But it s set in London.
You recently took over Major League Baseball s Twitter account. How did that come about?
They just asked me to! They wrote me on Twitter, Hey, can you follow us so we can DM you? And then they did, and they asked me if I wanted to do that, and I said Yeah, definitely. I had done it for Conan O Brien s show, I had taken over their Twitter, and that was really fun. They were such great sports and I do legitimately love baseball, so for me it was a blast.
If you could take over another corporate Twitter account, which one would it be?
Maybe Walmart, and not for any social activism purposes. Iif you look at the Walmart Twitter, it is the worst, most pathetically offensive thing on the Internet. They totally have people who have like ***social media degrees*** running it. They clearly have a protocol where you literally respond to every tweet that they get--except ones from me, they never respond to me.
They try to feign humanity and engage with users. First of all, if you re tweeting Walmart, you re an idiot. Really? It s like, Hey, I couldn t find Jack Reacher on Blu-Ray! So they ll write back, It s in the DVD section! Hey, what are you doing for Memorial Day?! It s like they ask a question that the answer will absolutely not matter and they ll never see it but they try to engage like they re your friend ***Corey***! To me that s on the level of, if the Nazis had invented SkyNet, that s what it would be like. To pretend that you re a human being when you re a gigantic soulless multinational. I can t off the top of my head think of anything more disgusting and offensive.
So I would love to literally tweet for them and tell the truth, and be like, We re Walmart. We re giant. We have many things for you to live a very bland and copiously overstuffed life of milquetoast unoriginality. You know what you re gonna get, so just swing on by. Don t ask us any questions because we re a friggin robot running a Twitter account." I d make it much more popular.
So you hate Walmart. Who are your favorite tweeters?
Twitter I believe was invented for Peter Serafinowicz. He s amazing. He s just virtuosic. Megan Amram: I literally dreamt last night that she and I were writing jokes, that s how great she is. The poet Patricia Lockwood is ridiculous. There s a woman in Indiana whose Twitter handle is MmeSurly. And she s not a comedian, but I gobble up her hilarious observations everyday.
Those are just a few, but I could literally go on all day with just amazing, exciting, wonderful comedians on there that I can t get enough of.
Probably the worst thing you can do to a person is leave them a voicemail.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) Fire crews in New Mexico on Saturday fought two growing wild blazes that have scorched thousands of acres, spurred evacuation calls for dozens of homes and poured smoke into the touristy state capital.
State officials said the uncontained blaze near Santa Fe had spread to 8 square miles, making it apparently the largest of several wildfires burning in the West as it placed the city under a blanket of haze. The thick smoke also covered the Gallinas Canyon and Las Vegas, N.M.
The fire in New Mexico's Santa Fe National Forest is burning just 25 miles from the city, prompting the Red Cross to set up an emergency shelter at a nearby high school.
Officials asked residents in about 140 summer homes to evacuate as a crew of 340 battled the flames near the communities of Pecos and Tres Lagunas.
Crews also cleared out campgrounds and closed trailheads in the area as they worked to prevent the fire from moving toward the capital city's watershed and more populated areas.
The state Department of Health warned residents in the Pecos, Santa Fe and Espanola areas to prepare for smoke and take precautions by avoiding prolonged or physical activity outdoors.
"Potentially unhealthy conditions could occur in these communities overnight and into the early morning," a statement released by health officials said.
Another New Mexico blaze, the Thompson Ridge fire near Jemez Springs, had grown to about 1 square mile, state forestry officials said. Between 40 and 50 homes in the area were evacuated as around 80 crew members and a helicopter arrived to help fight the blaze.
Elsewhere in the West, fire crews worked to beat several other fires, including one in California and another in southwest Colorado.
A fire in the foothills of the Angeles National Forest in Southern California threatened power lines Saturday after prompting mandatory evacuation orders in the community of Green Valley a day earlier.
The evacuation order was lifted later Friday. Firefighters continued to work toward gaining control on the 3,600-acre fire with high heat in the forecast Saturday.
In Colorado, Mike Blakeman, a spokesman for the Rio Grande National Forest, said a fire 15 miles southwest of the small town of Creede was reported at about noon Friday and the cause of it remained under investigation. No structures have been damaged, but three homes and several outbuildings were threatened Saturday.
John Parmenter, director of Scientific Services Division at the nearby Valles Caldera National Preserve in New Mexico, told the Albuquerque Journal that the Thompson Ridge fire ignited Friday in dense territory that was scheduled for thinning in the next few years because it posed a fire hazard.
"The area that it's in is very steep terrain leading up to the Valles Caldera," he said. "It could burn a lot of forest . There's a lot of fuel in there."
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Follow Russell Contreras on Twitter at http://twitter.com/russcontreras
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - More than 1,000 people were killed in violence in Iraq in May, making it the deadliest month since the sectarian slaughter of 2006-07, the United Nations said on Saturday, as fears mounted of a return to civil war.
Nearly 2,000 people have been killed in the last two months as al Qaeda and Sunni Islamist insurgents, invigorated by the Sunni-led revolt in Syria and by Sunni discontent at home, seek to revive the kind of all-out inter-communal conflict that killed tens of thousands five years ago.
"That is a sad record," Martin Kobler, the U.N. envoy in Baghdad, said in a statement. "Iraqi political leaders must act immediately to stop this intolerable bloodshed."
The renewed bloodletting reflects worsening tensions between Iraq's Shi'ite-led government and the Sunni minority, seething with resentment at their treatment since Saddam Hussein was overthrown by the U.S.-led invasion of 2003 and later hanged.
Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Saturday met leaders from across Iraq's sectarian divide to try to resolve the crisis. Leaders emerged smiling, but there were only initial talks that did not address fundamental Sunni discontent.
This week multiple bombings battered Shi'ite and Sunni areas of the capital Baghdad, killing nearly 100 people. Most of the 1,045 people killed in May were civilians, U.N. figures showed.
The U.N. toll is higher than a Reuters estimate of 600 deaths based on police and hospital officials. Such counts can vary depending on sourcing, while numbers often increase beyond initial estimates as wounded people die.
Al Qaeda's local wing and other Sunni armed groups are now regaining ground lost during their battle with U.S. troops who pulled out in December 2011.
At the height of Iraq's sectarian violence, when Baghdad was carved up between Sunni and Shi'ite gunmen who preyed on rival communities, the monthly death count sometimes topped 3,000.
Government officials say al Qaeda's wing, Islamic State of Iraq, and Naqshbandi rebels linked to ex-officers in Saddam's army, are now trying to provoke a Shi'ite militia reaction.
Security officials believe Shi'ite militias such as the Mehdi Army, Asaib al-Haq and Kataeb Hizballah have mostly kept out of the fray. But militia commanders say they are prepared to act.
Iraq's defense ministry on Saturday said it had captured an al Qaeda cell that was preparing to manufacture poison gases to attack Iraqi security forces but also to ship overseas for assaults in Europe and the United States.
SLIDE INTO CONFLICT
Since April, bombings and attacks have targeted Shi'ite and Sunni mosques and neighborhoods in Baghdad and other cities, as well as security forces and even moderate Sunni leaders.
Many Iraqis, especially in Baghdad, fear a return of death squads and revenge killings, with shops closing early and extra security measures in place.
"Shi'ite militant groups have largely stayed out of recent violence. If they are behind bombings of Sunni mosques, that suggests that they are being drawn into conflict," said Stephen Wicken, at the Institute for the Study of War in Washington.
"That would set the conditions up for a slide into broader sectarian conflict."
Syria's war, where mostly Sunni rebels are trying to topple President Bashar al-Assad, has further frayed ties between Iraq's Shi'ites and Sunnis. Iraqi fighters from both sects are crossing the border to fight for opposite sides in Syria.
Iraqi Shi'ite officials fear an Sunni Islamist take-over in Syria if Assad, whose Alawite sect is rooted in Shi'ite Islam, falls. Such fears reflect a broader regional rivalry between Shi'ite, non-Arab Iran and Sunni states such as Saudi Arabia.
Maliki has often upset his Sunni and ethnic Kurdish partners involved in a delicate power-sharing deal.
Soon after U.S. troops left, Iraqi authorities arrested the bodyguards of Maliki's Sunni vice-president and a year later those of the Sunni finance minister. The arrests were officially linked to terrorism cases, but they aggravated Sunni fears.
Since December, thousands of Sunnis have protested against the government in Sunni-dominated provinces such as Anbar.
An Iraqi army raid on a Sunni protest camp in the town of Hawija in April reignited violence that killed more than 700 people in that month, by a U.N. count. That had been the highest monthly toll in almost five years until it was exceeded in May.
(Reporting by Patrick Markey; Editing by Jon Hemming)
KINGSTON, N.H. (AP) More than 100 family and friends gathered at a church in a small New Hampshire town Saturday to remember the woman whose son massacred 20 first-graders and six educators in a Connecticut elementary school last year.
The mourners and a few musicians filed into the white clapboarded First Congregational Church in Kingston for the memorial of Nancy Lanza, the first victim of her 20-year-old son Adam's rampage. She was shot dead in their home before he blasted his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown on Dec. 14. He killed himself as police closed in.
More than a dozen uniformed police officers from several agencies blocked off the street and guarded the church door, ensuring only friends and family were allowed into the service. Nancy Lanza grew up in New Hampshire and lived there before moving to Newtown in 1998.
Lanza's brother, James Champion, is a Kingston police officer and still lives in the town.
A lone police bagpiper played as the processional arrived and lined up outside the church to enter together. Media outlets were kept 60 yards back across the street and behind yellow tape, and mourners declined to talk to reporters.
A few people wiped their eyes as they left the church.
Friends have said Nancy Lanza loved the Red Sox and gardening and talked of a growing enthusiasm for target shooting. The rifle and two handguns Adam Lanza took into Sandy Hook were registered to her.
But they also said she never talked about her home life, keeping details about her son private. She occasionally said she was concerned about the future, but she didn't complain.
Nancy Lanza told a divorce mediator in 2009 that she didn't like to leave her son alone. People who met him described him as shy and introverted. The mediator recalled that Nancy and Peter, who had married in June 1981 in Kingston but divorced several years ago, were respectful of each other and concerned about Adam's needs. He'd switched schools several times and Nancy had tried home schooling.
The head of security for the district where Adam Lanza attended high school said Nancy Lanza often had to come to school to deal with him when he had episodes of anxiety or withdrawing from others.
The motive for her son's killing spree is still unclear. Investigators have said mother and son visited shooting ranges together, and the victims killed at the school were all shot with a Bushmaster semi-automatic rifle that Adam Lanza took from the house he and his mother shared. That gun and the handgun he used to shoot himself had been legally purchased by his mother.
The massacre has revived the national gun control debate and led to proposals for universal background checks on gun buyers and bans on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines.
The Newtown massacre was the second-worst school shooting in U.S. history after the 2007 Virginia Tech rampage, which left 33 people dead.
Adam Lanza's father claimed his remains and a family spokesman said there were private arrangements, but the burial location was not made public.
A private funeral attended by about 25 people was held for Nancy Lanza in Kingston on Dec. 20.
With the week winding down, you better get busy. Or maybe you could just look busy. Here s some help with that:
World-Changer: Just because you re wasting time doesn t mean you can t be productive. Create your own planet at planetmaker.wthr.us, an interactive site with tools for fiddling with the surface texture, atmospheric density and cloud cover, on the world of your choice. While adding rings to Mars, you can also pretend that you are learning something. Via Prosthetic Knowledge.
Add It Up: Turns out dog years are more complicated than the old multiply by seven rule, so the BBC has offered up a Dog Age Calculator. (Not enough choices on the breed menu, though.)
Art or Lulz? The Tumblr In Duplo examines the mysterious and liminal space that exists between how people present themselves and how the law presents them. More specifically, it juxtaposes mug shots and Facebook profile pictures. I know that sounds more like a Web stunt than an art project, but it does say liminal, so. . . . More at Hyperallergic.
Being Watched: Many people are paranoid about a world in which drones follow us around. But this Popular Science video introduces us to a company that hopes to serve those who want a drone to follow them around.
Listening To Cartography: For two hours and 47 minutes of pleasing instrumental music, enjoy the results of a collaboration between music site Disquiet and BLDG BLOG s Geoff Manaugh, which challenged musicians to interpret segments of a map as musical notations.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) It's a warning as familiar as a daily prayer for Tornado Alley residents: When a twister approaches, take shelter in a basement or low-level interior room or closet, away from windows and exterior walls.
But with the powerful devastation from the May 20 twister that killed 24 and pummeled the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore still etched in their minds, many Oklahomans instead opted to flee Friday night when a violent tornado developed and headed toward the state's capital city.
It was a dangerous decision to make.
Interstates and roadways already packed with rush-hour traffic quickly became parking lots as people tried to escape the oncoming storm. Motorists were trapped in their vehicles a place emergency officials say is one of the worst to be in a tornado.
"It was chaos. People were going southbound in the northbound lanes. Everybody was running for their lives," said Terri Black, 51, a teacher's assistant in Moore.
After seeing last month's tornado also turn homes into piles of splintered rubble, Black said she decided to try and outrun the tornado when she learned her southwest Oklahoma City home was in harm's way. She quickly regretted it.
When she realized she was a sitting duck in bumper-to-bumper traffic, Black turned around and found herself directly in the path of the most violent part of the storm.
"My car was actually lifted off the road and then set back down," Black said. "The trees were leaning literally to the ground. The rain was coming down horizontally in front of my car. Big blue trash cans were being tossed around like a piece of paper in the wind.
"I'll never do it again."
Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Betsy Randolph said the roadways were quickly congested with the convergence of rush-hour traffic and fleeing residents.
"They had no place to go, and that's always a bad thing. They were essentially targets just waiting for a tornado to touch down," Randolph said. "I'm not sure why people do that sort of stuff, but it is very dangerous. It not only puts them in harm's way, but it adds to the congestion. It really is a bad idea for folks to do."
At least nine people were killed in Friday's storms, including a mother and her baby sucked out of their car as a deadly twister tore its way along a packed Interstate 40 near the town of El Reno, about 30 miles from Oklahoma City.
"We believe all the victims were in vehicles when the storm came through," Canadian County Undersheriff Chris West said Saturday.
More than 100 people were injured, most of those from punctures and lacerations from swirling debris, emergency officials reported.
Oklahoma wasn't the only state to see violent weather on Friday night. In Missouri, areas west of St. Louis received significant damage from an EF3 tornado that packed estimated winds of 150 mph. In St. Charles County, at least 71 homes were heavily damaged and 100 had slight to moderate damage, county spokeswoman Colene McEntee said.
Tens of thousands were without power, and only eight minor injuries were reported. Gov. Jay Nixon declared a state of emergency.
Northeast of St. Louis and across the Mississippi, the city of Roxana was hit by an EF3 tornado as well, but National Weather Service meteorologist Jayson Gosselin said it wasn't clear whether the damage in both states came from the same EF3 twister or separate ones.
Back in Oklahoma, Amy Williamson, who lives just off I-40 in the western Oklahoma City suburb of Yukon, said when she learned the tornado was moving toward her home, she piled her two young children, baby sitter and two cats into her SUV.
"We felt like getting out of the way was the best idea," Williamson said. "It was 15 minutes away from my house, and they were saying it was coming right down I-40, so we got in the car and decided to head south."
Williamson said she knows emergency officials recommend taking shelter inside a structure, but fresh in her mind was the devastation of the Moore tornado. Seeing homes stripped to their foundation made her think that fleeing was the best idea, she said.
"I'm a seasoned tornado watcher ... but I just could not see staying and waiting for it to hit," she said. She ended up riding out the storm in a hospital parking garage.
On Saturday, muddy floodwaters stood several feet deep in the countryside surrounding the metro area. Torrential downpours followed for hours after the twisters moved east up to 7 inches of rain in some parts and the city's airport had water damage. Some flights resumed Saturday.
The Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office said a man was missing from a vehicle near Harrah, east of Oklahoma City. Roadways around the area were crumbling because of water, especially near an intersection in northeastern Oklahoma City and in Canadian County south of I-40, between Mustang and Yukon.
When the storm passed between El Reno and Yukon, it barreled down I-40 for more than two miles, ripping billboards down to twisted metal frames. Debris was tangled in the median's crossover barriers, including huge pieces of sheet metal, tree limbs and a giant oil drum. The warped remains of a horse trailer lay atop a barbed-wire fence less than 50 yards from the highway.
The Oklahoma Corporation Commission reported more than 91,800 homes and businesses across the state remained without power Saturday.
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Sean Murphy can be reached at www.twitter.com/apseanmurphy.
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Associated Press writers Ken Miller in Oklahoma City and Jim Suhr in St. Louis contributed to this report.
