高考英语 考前突破阅读理解能力 国际时事要闻 俄克拉荷马州龙卷风救援工作接近尾声

俄克拉荷马州龙卷风救援工作接近尾声Rescue workers are combing the ruins left by the gigantic tornado that killed two dozen people in Oklahoma on Monday. 本周一，美国俄克拉荷马州的救援人员正在巨大龙卷风造成的废墟中搜寻幸存者。The huge tornado ripped through a suburb of Oklahoma City, flattening entire neighbourhoods. Officials say the search for survivors is nearly over as efforts turn towards recovery. Fire chief Gary Bird said he was "98% sure" there were no more survivors or bodies to recover from the rubble. The storm, which also killed nine children, has meanwhile been upgraded to the most powerful level of twister. Packing winds of at least 200mph (320km/h), the tornado razed a swathe of the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore. Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin said the death toll may rise above 24 as some bodies could have been taken directly to funeral homes. The body count was revised down from 51 after the state medical examiner said some victims may have been counted twice in the confusion. According to the local fire chief, no survivors or bodies have been found since Monday night. He said the goal was to conduct three searches of each location just to be sure. Emer gency crews have had trouble navigating the devastated neighbourhoods because there were no street signs remaining. Some used mobile phones and GPS to navigate. The National Weather Service (NWS) has upgraded the tornado to EF-5, the most powerful type on the Fujita scale. It uses the word "incredible'' to describe the force of such a storm. The NWS said the twister's path was 17 miles long and 1.3 miles wide. For about 45 minutes on Monday afternoon, the storm battered the suburb of about 55,000 people.