OKLAHOMA CITY -- A flood emergency was declared in Oklahoma City on Wednesday night after a storm system dropped more than 6 inches of rain on parts of the city and spawned two possible tornadoes in the area, including one that destroyed about 35 houses and one that officials said hit a zoo.
City spokesman Kristy Yager said the emergency flash-flood declaration was the first in Oklahoma City's history. Road crews were waiting for the storms to abate to set up barricades and evaluate trouble spots.
"They'll dispatch as soon as the storms end and the weather clears," Yager said Wednesday night.
A spokesman for a paramedic service in the Oklahoma City area said the company transported to hospitals 12 patients from a mobile-home park that was damaged by severe weather.
Lara O'Leary with Emergency Medical Services Authority said Wednesday night that she had no further details about the extent of the patients' injuries.
Meanwhile, the Grady County sheriff's office said all animals at a zoo about 25 miles southwest of Oklahoma City were accounted for.
Alisa Voegeli, a dispatcher at the sheriff's office, said the zoo's owner and a deputy went to the scene in Tuttle to inspect the damage after a tornado hit. She said the animals were all secured.
The National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center had warned that Tornado Alley would see bad weather, prompting preparations across the region. More storms are possible later in the week, with flooding a major concern, it said.
"People just really need to stay weather aware, have a plan and understand that severe storms are possible across portions of the Southern Plains almost daily through Saturday," National Weather Service meteorologist Jonathan Kurtz said.
Tornadoes also were spotted Wednesday in rural parts of Kansas and Nebraska. Ten to 15 homes were damaged at Roseland, Neb., which is near Grand Island, and between Hardy and Ruskin, near the Kansas line.
At least nine tornadoes were reported in Kansas, the strongest of them in the sparsely populated north-central part of the state. That included a large tornado near the tiny town of Republic just south of the Nebraska border, where some homes were damaged.
In Harvey County, Kan., a tornado destroyed a hog barn and damaged trees, the National Weather Service said.
In Oklahoma, Grady County Emergency Management Director Dale Thompson said an earlier tornado destroyed about 10 homes in Amber and about 25 in Bridge Creek, but that no injuries were reported.
As that storm moved to the east, forecasters declared a tornado emergency for Moore, where seven schoolchildren were among 24 people killed in a storm two years ago. But Wednesday's storm didn't appear nearly as strong.
At Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City, people were twice evacuated from the terminal into a tunnel outside the security zone.
Tornado sirens blared across southwestern Oklahoma as a supercell thunderstorm rolled closer to the capital Wednesday afternoon. By rush hour, it was bearing down on Oklahoma City's southern suburbs.
School districts held their pupils in safe places and the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management opened its operations center in anticipation of aid requests, though none came in immediately, spokesman Keli Cain said.
Portions of two major interstates in Oklahoma were closed Wednesday evening because of debris from the first tornado.
Oklahoma Turnpike Authority spokesman Jack Damrill said Interstate 44 was closed from Chickasha to Newcastle. A large storm that produced tornadoes, heavy rain and damaging winds tracked for several miles along I-44.
Oklahoma Highway Patrol Capt. Paul Timmons said a tractor-trailer overturned on the interstate.
Information for this article was contributed by Margery Beck, Bill Draper and staff members of The Associated Press.
A Section on 05/07/2015