The death toll of a strong storm system and tornadoes in the central US State of Oklahoma has climbed to 13, including three Å“storm chasers,” highlighting the dangers of tracking deadly tornadoes.
Among the storm victims in the Oklahoma City suburb of El Reno were Tim Samaras, 55, a leading storm chaser and founder of the tornado research company, Twistex, along with his son 24-year-old son, Paul, and Carl Young, 45, a Twistex meteorologist, Reuters reported Sunday, citing a statement issued by Tim Samaras’ brother, Jim.
“He’s mostly going to be remembered as somebody who tried to help save lives,” said Jim Samaras, noting that his brother had done considerable research and innovative work with probes and other instruments placed in the path of twisters to gather data.
The so-called storm chasers usually try to closely track major storms to measure their power, gather research and capture video footage to feed the television and Internet appetite for dramatic images.
The development comes as five deadly twisters touched down in central Oklahoma and caused flash flooding just 11 days following a strong tornado categorized as EF5, the most powerful ranking, tore through the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore and killed 24 people.
Additionally, severe storm systems swept through the neighboring State of Missouri, while Moore only experienced limited damage this time.
While Oklahoma’s Medical Examiner put the stateâ„¢s death toll at 13, including four children, in a Sunday announcement, Missouri authorities reported at least three deaths Friday as the result of flooding cause by the violent storms.
Meanwhile, three employees of the US-based Weather Channel suffered minor injuries when their sport-utility vehicle was thrown nearly 200 yards by the winds while tracking the El Reno storm on Friday.
“It is too early to say specifically how this tornado might change how we cover severe weather, but we certainly plan to review and discuss this incident,” said David Blumenthal, a spokesman for the broadcast network.
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This article originally appeared on: Press TV