One of my little boys just kept saying, ‘I love you, I love you, please don’t die with me.’ I never thought I was going to die. The whole time I just kept screaming to them, ‘Quit worrying, we’re fine, we’re fine.’ And I’m very loud, so I just hoped they could hear me because I could hear them screaming. [One girl] was sobbing, and I was like, ‘We’re going to be fine, we’re going to be fine, I’m protecting you.’ And then I said a few prayers. ‘God please take care of my kids.’

RHONDA CROSSWHITE, sixth grade teacher at Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, Oklahoma, which was leveled by a tornado. She threw herself over students inside a bathroom stall as the storm passed, likely helping to save their lives.

Teachers. Among the best of us.

Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant will donate $1 million towards relief efforts in the wake of that tornado.

There are empty spaces where there used to be bedrooms and living rooms and classrooms. We will need to rebuild those spaces.

PRESIDENT OBAMA, in remarks from the White House pledging federal aid to Oklahoma in the wake of the deadly tornado.

He also asked for relief donations to be made to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief fund. More details here: https://www.redcross.org/donate/index.jsp?donateStep=2&itemId=prod10002.

The Red Cross also has a “Safe And Well” website where residents can register to help let family know their status following a disaster. More information here: http://safeandwell.communityos.org/cms/index.php

Scenes of devasation from Moore, Oklahoma. A spokeswoman for the medical examiner’s office is now backing away from earlier casualty counts, saying they are “no longer accurate” and only confirming 24 deaths; others are feared trapped beneath rubble. (Photos from top: Nick Oxford / New York Times; Steve Gooch / AP; Oxford / Times; David Modaniel / The Oklahoman)

Death toll from Oklahoma tornado now at least 91, including 20 children.

Stephen Colbert quotes from an email that probably wasn’t written by ABC News Washington correspondent and inventor of non-existent Benghazi emails Jonathan Karl, who will appear on The Colbert Report tomorrow night to explain his alleged attempts at journalism.

Jon Stewart pointing out that the whole VA claims mess could be solved if the Obama administration put as much effort into getting the Veterans Administration computer systems to talk to one another as the Obama 2012 campaign went into getting people out to vote.
Ugh. Ugh, because he’s right.

The tornado that devastated Moore, Oklahoma touched down at 2:56 PM Central time, cutting a swath 20 miles long over a period of approximately 40 minutes. Oklahoma City resident Kay James is seen sitting in the driveway of her home following the storm. (Photos: Paul Hellstern [top] and Chris Landsberger / The Oklahoman via The New York Times)

A framegrab from TV news video shows lot upon lot of homes flattened by a “mile-wide” tornado in Moore, Oklahoma on Monday. At least 51 people are dead. (via KFOR TV / The New York Times)

FYI

There are not “inconsistencies” in the reporting from the Oklahoma storms. There are facts being updated by news organizations as they receive them from local officials. Everything on this and other Tumblr news blogs links back to a source. Journalism 101.

Teachers carry and escort students away from Briarwood Elementary School in Moore, Oklahoma, after it was destroyed by a tornado. (Photo: Paul Hellstern / The Oklahoman)

The AP reports Oklahoma death toll up to 51.

40 minutes, 20 miles, at least 37 dead: the New York Times maps out the path of the tornado that leveled Moore, Oklahoma

The Associated Press’s Sue Ogrocki was among the first photojournalists on scene in storm-ravaged Moore, Oklahoma. Among the images she captured: children being pulled from the Plaza Towers Elementary School, where as many as 75 students and staff had sheltered during the tornado, which all but completely leveled the town. (via the New York Daily News)

A child is pulled from the rubble of Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, a suburb of Oklahoma City. The building had been leveled by a tornado on Monday and several dozen children were thought to be among the casualties; the medical examiner has put the death toll at 37, with the figure expected to rise. (Photo: Sue Ogrocki / AP via The New York Daily News)