The death toll from weekend storms which claimed 12 lives in the US could rise as emergency workers search for missing residents, Oklahoma’s governor has warned.
Nine people, including two children, died in Oklahoma as a result of Friday night’s tornadoes and severe thunderstorms.
The victims included a mother and a baby sucked out of their car as the EF3 hit near El Reno.
A four-year-old boy died after being swept into the Oklahoma River on the south side of the city, said Oklahoma City police Lt. Jay Barnett.
The boy and other family members had sought shelter in a drainage ditch.
More than 100 people were injured by swirling debris, most with puncture wounds and lacerations, authorities said.
Flash floods in Arkansas had killed three earlier that day, including a sheriff attempting a water rescue.
Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin toured a community college and stockyard in El Reno yesterday and said eight counties in the Oklahoma City area sustained wind or flooding damage.
She warned more victims are likely to be found by emergency services.
She said the Federal Emergency Management Agency has 600 workers assessing damage and working with state and local officials to prepare for recovery.
Mrs Fallin did not say how many people are believed to be missing but said 115 people were injured.
The main damage was caused by a tornado as it charged down Interstate 40 in Oklahoma City’s western suburbs on Friday night, twisting billboards and scattering cars and tractor-trailers along a roadway clogged with rush-hour motorists leaving work or fleeing the storm’s path.
“The last two nights, I’ve been having hell,” said Roy Stoddard, a truck driver from Depew, Oklahoma, who was delayed by rising floodwaters at Little Rock, Arkansas on Thursday.
Then on Friday evening, he had to take shelter in a shop’s walk-in cooler during Friday evening’s rush-hour in Oklahoma City as deadly weather approached.
“I know what a tornado can do,” Mr Stoddard added.
Damage from Friday night’s severe weather was concentrated a few miles north of Moore, the Oklahoma City suburb pounded by an EF5 tornado on May 20 which killed 24 people.