Death toll in Oklahoma rises to 16; hunt for 6 missing continues - CNN

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Crews haul away a mangled truck on Sunday, June 2, that storm chasers Tim Samaras, his son Paul Samaras and Carl Young were using to track the tornado that hit El Reno, Oklahoma. The three men, who had devoted their lives to hunting powerful storms died in the middle of the chase. Seventeen tornadoes were reported in the Oklahoma City and St. Louis areas on Friday, May 31.
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Dustin Horn, second from left, helps his parents, JoAnn and Fred Horn, salvage items from their home on June 2, two days after a tornado ripped through El Reno, Oklahoma.
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Mark Reynolds sifts through debris to salvage personal items in El Reno on Saturday, June 1.
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Downed trees sit in the parking lot of the Canadian Valley Technology Center in El Reno on June 1.
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An overturned airplane sits amid rubble at the Canadian Valley Technology Center in El Reno on June 1.
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Bill Thesing, who was injured in his home when a tornado hit, returns from the hospital to to salvage items from his home with the help of his friend Tammy Hicks on Saturday, June 1, in El Reno, Oklahoma.
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Yvonne Merritt stands among the things she was able to save from her home in El Reno on June 1.
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Mikie Hooper collects her belongings from her RV, which was destroyed by a tornado in El Reno, Oklahoma, on June 1.
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High winds left sheet metal wrapped around the branches of this tree along Route 66 in El Reno on June 1.
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Two pickup trucks are pictured stuck in high water along North West 23rd Street in El Reno on June 1. Heavy rain has caused flooding in the area.
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The tornado severed the pole supporting these power lines, leaving the remnants dangling near El Renoon June 1.
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Two men walk by a damaged OKC-West Livestock Market building near El Reno on June 1.
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An American flag flies above the destroyed remains of a mobile home in El Reno on June 1.
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The tail section of a plane juts out of a crumbling building at a technology school in El Reno on June 1.
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Kim Vanaken, left, consoles her sister Angela Coble, center, along with Amber Kelley while looking at what is left of Coble's house in El Reno on Saturday, June 1.
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A man searches through the rubble of a home in El Reno on June 1. A large part of Moore, Oklahoma, was without power, as were parts of El Reno and Union City.
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Destroyed trees and cars stand along a road at the Canadian Valley Technology Center in El Reno on June 1.
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A tornado forms from a severe thunderstorm near Meridian outside of Oklahoma City on Friday, May 31.
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Shredded trees and debris are scattered along Interstate 40 near El Reno, Oklahoma, on May 31.
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A semi tractor-trailer damaged by a tornado lies along I-40 just east of El Reno on May 31.
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Oklahoma Highway Patrol Troopers inspect an overturned vehicle sitting alongside I-40 near El Reno on May 31.
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Storm clouds that produced a tornado roll through near El Reno on May 31.
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Lightning from a tornadic thunderstorm strikes in Cushing, Oklahoma, on May 31.
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Tornado debris hangs from a billboard sign, which was destroyed along Interstate-40 near El Reno on May 31.



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  • Two parents and a boy were killed after hiding in a storm drain, a relative says
  • Six Oklahomans are still missing after Friday's tornado-spawning storm
  • Three people drowned in Missouri, and four people were killed by flooding in Arkansas
  • Three storm chasers featured on the Discovery Channel were killed chasing a tornado


(CNN) -- Oklahoma had barely started clearing the rubble from a monstrous tornado two weeks ago when another rash of twisters plowed through this ill-fated swath of Tornado Alley.
At least 16 people are dead across the state from a vicious storm that spawned at least five tornadoes there late Friday, officials said Monday.
And the death toll may rise further.
Authorities will resume their search Monday for six people still missing, including four who sought shelter in storm drains, Oklahoma City Fire Chief Keith Bryant said.
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Storm chasers among the storm victims
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Tornado left vast amounts of debris
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Risks journalists take to cover storms
The storms left not only a trail of death and destruction, it also sent flood waters surging.
And the damage wasn't confined to Oklahoma.
In Missouri, a twister left more than 10 miles of significant damage "that caused dozens and dozens of houses to be literally blown up," Gov. Jay Nixon told CNN affiliate KSDK.
No one was killed in that tornado, but three people drowned in Missouri, Nixon said.
And in Arkansas, flooding killed at least four people: a sheriff's deputy, a wildlife officer and two women they were trying to save from a deluged home.
'Memories just tossed about'
But it was Oklahoma City and its surrounding areas that bore the brunt of the storms' wrath.
The storm system mowed down power lines and uprooted trees, flipped big rigs on their sides and ripped off part of the terminal roof at Oklahoma City's Will Rogers World Airport, where some 1,500 area residents had taken shelter in a tunnel.
The twisters tore open brick houses like cartons, sucking out their contents and tossing them out onto lawns.
"It's a sombering thing to think about life, and to see all your memories just tossed about," Kris Merritt said as he surveyed the damage at his parents' house. "Everything from your childhood on up."
Though Friday's tornadoes were not as strong as the EF-5 twister that killed 24 people on May 20, fear drove some people to flee in cars, ignoring warnings not to drive.
Some drove on the wrong side of the highway. Interstates turned into parking lots.
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Watch how a tornado develops
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Tragedy along tornado alley
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See dramatic aerials of tornado damage
'We were floating'
One tornado swept up a truck carrying a crew from The Weather Channel, hurled it 200 yards into a field and smashed it to the ground.
"I saw people in my life, I saw their faces flash right in front of me," meteorologist Mike Bettes told CNN on Sunday. "And it just seemed for a moment, everything was in slow motion, especially when we were floating."
The crew members were lucky. They survived.
But the storm did claim the lives of three other storm chasers.
Tim Samaras, his son Paul Samaras and Carl Young were killed while chasing a tornado in El Reno.
At the intersection where authorities believe the men were killed, crews hauled away a mangled white truck that had been crushed like a tin can. The metal frameof their storm-chasing vehicle was twisted almost beyond recognition.
"A vehicle is not a place to be in any tornado," CNN meteorologist Chad Myers said. "Especially a big one like that, and those men doing their job, those field scientists out there doing their jobs, were killed in the process."
'We were overwhelmed'
Once the tornadoes passed, Oklahomans faced a new threat: floods.
Eight to 11 inches of rain hosed Oklahoma City, stranding motorists and hitting apartments in low-lying areas of town hard.
"We saw flooding in areas that we don't see flooding," said police Lt. Jay Barnett. "We were overwhelmed."
The flash flooding swept some bodies up to five miles downstream, Oklahoma City Deputy Fire Chief Marc Woodard said.
Among those killed were Samuel Cifuentes, his wife Florinda Santos and their 5-year-old son, Alex Cifuentes, Samuel's brother told CNN.
Authorities had been searching for the family members in a storm drain.
CNN's Marlena Baldacci, Jackie Castillo, Jake Carpenter, Janet DiGiacomo, Dave Alsup and David Ruff contributed to this report.

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