breaking news

A band of thunderstorms battered the Oklahoma City area Thursday, slowing cleanup operations in the suburb where a tornado killed 24 people and destroyed thousands of homes this week.The first of the funerals, for a 9-year-old girl killed at a Moore elementary school that took a direct hit in Monday’s storm, was scheduled for Thursday morning. A family photo showed the girl, Antonia Candelaria, beaming with a big smile and wearing a white sun hat.Early estimates indicate the tornado caused more than $2 billion of damage in Moore. Whole subdivisions in the fast-growing community of 56,000 people were destroyed. Authorities estimated that as many as 13,000 homes were damaged or destroyed and 33,000 people were affected — an especially traumatic toll for a city that had already suffered three other tornados since 1998.Two elementary schools were hit — one was leveled — by Monday’s tornado. Candelaria was one of seven children who perished at the Plaza Towers Elementary School, a one story building with barely a wall left standing. Altogether, 10 children were killed in the storm, including two infants. Oklahoma tornado ripped through as many as 13,000 homes, damage could top $2 billion; 24 dead. It was one of America’s worst natural disasters.