Gov. Mary Fallin says an Oklahoma suburb that was devastated by a deadly tornado will be rebuilt.
At least 24 people, including nine children, were killed in the massive tornado that flattened homes and a school in Moore, OK on Monday afternoon. Authorities initially said as many as 51 people were dead.
Fallin told a Tuesday news conference that she doesn't know how many people are still missing following the tornado, but said, "We will rebuild and we will regain our strength."
The fire chief says crews will search the entire community at least twice more to make sure that no survivors or victims have been overlooked.
New search and rescue teams moved in at dawn Tuesday, taking over from the 200 or so emergency responders who had worked all night, looking through blocks of homes and other structures that were destroyed by yesterday's massive tornado.
Some of the teams have been focusing their efforts on an elementary school where the storm ripped off the roof, knocked down walls and turned the playground into a mass of twisted plastic and metal while students and teachers huddled in hallways and bathrooms. Children from the school are among the dead, but several students were pulled alive from under a collapsed wall and other debris.
The fire chief says officials are still trying to account for a handful of children who weren't found at the school but may have gone home early with their parents.
Hospital officials say they've treated more than 200 patients, including dozens of children, since the tornado ripped through the area.
About 20 patients remained at one hospital Tuesday, but it wasn't clear how many patients remained hospitalized at another facility.
Spokeswoman Brooke Cayot says Integris Southwest Medical Center has seen 90 patients, including five children who have been released.
OU Medical Center spokesman Scott Coppenbarger says 85 people, including 50 children, came to his hospital and an affiliated children's hospital for treatment. He does not know how many have been released.
St. Anthony Hospital spokeswoman Sandra Payne says her hospital and two regional facilities have seen 35 patients, including 14 children. Thirty-two patients have been released. Three children were transferred elsewhere.
Meanwhile, the father of an 8-year-old boy says a teacher saved his son's life as the twister tore through their school.
David Wheeler says the teacher at Briarwood Elementary took students into a closet and shielded them with her arms as the tornado collapsed the roof and starting lifting children upward. He says the pull was so strong that it sucked the glasses off their faces.
As the tornado approached, students were sent into the halls. But Wheeler says third-grade teacher Julie Simon thought it didn't look safe, so she ushered the children into a closet instead.
In Wheeler's words, "She saved their lives by putting them in a closet and holding their heads down."
Wheeler says he raced to the school through blinding rain and gusting wind. When he got there, he says "it was like the earth was wiped clean."
He eventually found his son, Gabriel, sitting with the teacher who had protected him. His back was cut and bruised and gravel was embedded in his head, but he was alive.
