The earth itself was at least partially to blame for why desperate schoolchildren in Moore, Okla., had nowhere to hide from Mondays devastating tornado.Much of the soil in Oklahoma, including Moore, is red clay -- a porous substance that makes foundations settle and basements and underground tornado shelters leak. Thats the reason we dont have basements, said Tom Bennett of Tulsa, past presid...

    

Seven children were found drowned at a tornado-flattened elementary school where rescuers were searching through the night for survivors as parents kept a heart-breaking vigil, officials said.The students killed at Plaza Towers Elementary School were among at least 24 lives claimed by the monster twister that laid to Moore, Okla.Several children and staffers were pulled alive from the ruins of Pla...

    

Related:'Major damage' as huge tornado slams Oklahoma

    

By Suzanne Choney, Contributing Writer, NBC NewsThe loss of life and stunning devastation in Oklahoma City suburbs after a monster tornado ripped through the area are heart-wrenching. "The streets are just gone. The signs are just gone," said Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin, after she toured the area by helicopter Tuesday. And many, many relief organizations are getting the message out on how to help.Am...

    

Officials in the Oklahoma City suburb ravaged by deadly tornadoes Monday complained earlier this year about FEMAs foot-dragging over $2 million in federal grants for safe rooms in 800 homes that would protect people from severe weather.Our countywide Hazard Mitigation Plan still has not been approved by the State and FEMA,said a statement posted in February on the City of Moores website. It...

    

The photo shows a baby in diapers on a high chair gazing at a white cake with one pink candle. Glen Adkisson of Collinsville, Okla., posted on Facebook that it had been found "in our yard" following Monday's devastating tornadoes.The message below reads:"This photo is of my sisters deceased husband when he was a child. We are from Shawnee Oklahoma. She did live in the trailer park. She and my 7 ...

    

At least 51 people, including 20 children, were among the victims of a enormous tornado that roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs Monday, pulverizing entire city blocks and leaving behind miles of mangled cars and splintered wood.Officials warned the death toll was likely to climb, making it among the deadliest tornadoes in U.S. history.At one hospital, 85 patients, including 65 children, were...

    

When the sirens began blaring and teachers at Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, Okla., heard that a monstrous tornado was roaring toward their 57-year-old school and its youngest students, there was nowhere to hide.They crouched in hallways and bathrooms, waiting, hoping and praying. Then "the school started coming apart," one neighbor who sought shelter at the school told the Associated Pr...