[dennis1x]

watching tv footage....one corner of gm plant is destroyed...major damage to a bank, restaurant, homes, cars.....helicopter crew followed path, narrow but extremely violent.

[Sally'sConcerns]

Channel 9 reporting the bank was levelled.

[Petronski]

AP Wire via KOCO-TV:

Intial Reports Indicate Heavy Damage

POSTED: 5:26 p.m. CDT May 8, 2003
UPDATED: 5:50 p.m. CDT May 8, 2003
OKLAHOMA CITY -- A large tornado has apparently touched down in southern Oklahoma City and its southeastern suburbs.

Footage showed heavy damage to Tinker Air Force Base in Midwest City and the General Motors plant in south Oklahoma County.

There were reports of injuries at the GM plant, but that could not be immediately confirmed.

The storm has parrelled Interstate 240, destroying metal industrial buildings, a mobile home sales lots, a bank, a fast-food restaurant and tossed 18-wheelers.

There also were reports of leveled businesses near I-240, a major thoroughfare in central Oklahoma.

Structures were stripped of roofs, automobiles and mobile homes were strewn across the landscape.

Power lines and large trees also were toppled and other debris could be seen.