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May 21, 2013 | Pat McCaughan

ENS: Prayers Urged, Diocese Reaches Out, as Deadly Tornadoes Hit Oklahoma

[Episcopal News Service] Bishop Ed Konieczny called for prayer, while staff and clergy of the Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma reached out to the community, after violent tornadoes on May 20 left at least 51 dead, including 20 children, and hundreds injured near Oklahoma City.

 

As rescuers continued to search for survivors amid the rubble of buildings and widespread debris, the death toll was expected to rise. “It’s been a pretty rough couple of days” with more storms possible on Tuesday, said Konieczny, during a Monday evening telephone call from his home in Edmond, a northern suburb of Oklahoma City.

 

“We’re still assessing where we are at today,” he said, just a few hours after a mile-wide tornado struck a hospital and two elementary schools in Moore, about 11 miles southwest of Oklahoma City. “Communications are difficult. Cell phone service is sparse. Even landlines are affected. The area where the tornado struck is blocked off, nobody can get in or out.”

 

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