A tornado that swept through the Moore area of Oklahoma City on Thursday injured at least 105 people and damaged cars at a General Motors plant, according to the New York Times (NYT) and Reuters.
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GM spokesman Dan Flores told the newspaper that employees at the plant had ample time to take shelter after the tornado touched down around 5pm local time. No plant employees were hurt, but two truck drivers were injured.
Reuters subsequently reported that cars in the plant parking lot were tossed like toys and video footage from local broadcasters showed car-carrying trucks on fire.
Since Sunday, tornado-packed storms have killed at least 42 people in the US: 18 in Missouri, 15 in Tennessee, 7 in Kansas and 2 in Illinois. Officials have estimated damage in the hundreds of millions of dollars, the NYT said.
May is usually the peak month for the storms in America’s ‘Tornado Alley’ Midwest.
Separately, General Motors said on Thursday it would donate $100,000 to the victims of this week’s tornadoes.
In a statement apparently issued before its Oklahoma plant was itself hit, GM said it was encouraging its employees to help the tornado victims through its disaster relief programme – GM Global Aid.
GM also said it was providing volunteers, food, and supplies while its Fairfax Assembly plant in Kansas City, Kansas has also supplied 600 hot meals for mobile feeding operations.
