Mayor of tornado-ravaged town: wants ordinance passed required storm shelters in new homes

May 22, 2013 – OKLAHOMA – The mayor of tornado-ravaged Moore, Oklahoma, will push for a law requiring storm shelters or safe rooms in new homes, he told CNN Wednesday. “We'll try to get it passed as soon as I can,” Glenn Lewis said. The ordinance would apply to single-family and multi-family homes. At least 24 people, including nine children, were killed in Monday's mammoth tornado, the state medical examiner's office said Teachers saved lives during the tornado but some loved ones are still missing after the twister ripped through 17 miles of central Oklahoma and pummeled 2,400 homes. Cassandra Jenkins has no idea what happened to her grandparents, more than a day after the twister struck their hometown of Moore. “All we know is that their home is still left standing. However, they have not been seen or heard from since the storm hit,” she said as her daughters clutched photos of their great-grandparents. Terrified children, teachers' heroics saved many but there was no adequate shelter inside a tornado-ravaged school. “We've tried to locate them at every hospital, every shelter, every Red Cross facility. Anything we could possibly reach out to, we have.” Damage assessments Tuesday showed the tornado had winds over 200 mph at times, making it an EF5 -- the strongest category of tornadoes measured, the National Weather Service said. Lewis said the devastation was so catastrophic that city officials rushed to print new street signs to help guide rescuers and residents through the newly mangled and unfamiliar landscape. The financial impact will be monumental. Insurance claims will probably top $1 billion, said Kelly Collins of the Oklahoma Insurance Commission. Craig Fugate, the Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator, told CNN the agency is in “good shape” to support the recovery in Oklahoma and in other disaster zones, such as rebuilding after Hurricane Sandy in New Jersey and New York. “We got full allocation last year with the Sandy supplemental funds. We are looking to continue the response here as well as the previous disasters.” But “if we have another hurricane, we may need more money,” he said Wednesday. -CNN