Peppering Net With Shots Blackhawks Slip Two Into It

For a period and a half on Saturday the Blackhawks peppered the Los Angeles Kings net with nothing to show for it. They outshot the Kings by 17 2 in the first period yet trailed by a goal. Patience though trumped frustration. The Blackhawks found their offense and grabbed Game 1 of the Western Conference finals 2 1.

Game 2 is Sunday at United Center.

The series set up as a contrast in styles the up tempo offense of the Blackhawks against the size of the Kings defense and Quick the most valuable player in last year s Stanley Cup playoffs. Game 1 fit the billing. The Kings did not register a shot for the first eight minutes while the Blackhawks dominated the puck the pace and the possession.

He does some things in the net that you try to overcome Blackhawks Coach Joel Quenneville said. Volume and traffic on shots is the only way to get this guy.

At 12 minutes 29 seconds of the second period the Blackhawks relentless pressure paid off. Johnny Oduya fired a shot from the point that Quick saved with a blocker. But the rebound bounced to the stick of Patrick Sharp as he streaked toward the net. Sharp beat Quick with a put back for his team high eighth goal of the playoffs.

He s going to make those saves from the outside Sharp said. It s about getting to the inside. It s about outworking their defensemen to get those second and third opportunities.

Four minutes after Sharp s goal Duncan Keith took a pass from Bryan Bickell at the point and fired a shot at Quick. Marian Hossa posted in front of the goal held out his stick and deflected the puck past the screened Quick.

The Blackhawks had the lead and what had been a subdued crowd came alive. Chicago killed a penalty midway through the third period and Corey Crawford who had 21 saves made the lead hold up. The Blackhawks even flexed a little muscle with a big hit from Dave Bolland on Mike Richards in the final minutes that brought the home fans to their feet.

Before the series the Blackhawks talked about the bounces that would be needed to beat Quick who entered Game 1 leading the playoffs with a .948 save percentage and a 1.5 goals against average. Those breaks eventually went Chicago s way Saturday but only after the Kings were the recipients of the puck s first critical hop late in the first period.

After a failed clearing attempt Crawford tried to sweep the puck away from his crease and Bolland also got a stick on it in an attempt to clear the zone. But the puck ricocheted off the stick of Justin Williams and skipped past Crawford into the net.

It was Williams s third goal in two games he scored both goals for the Kings in Game 7 against the San Jose Sharks in the second round. Saturday s goal though did little to change the game s flow as the Blackhawks tested Quick from the opening face off.

In the early part of the game Quick was equal to Chicago s many challenges. In the first period he stuffed Patrick Kane during a four on four as Kane skated alone through the goal mouth after a pass from Jonathan Toews in the corner. Kane measured a shot but Quick turned it away with his stick hand.

Later in the first Quick stopped a one timer from Sharp and then a good chance on the rebound from Brandon Saad. In the second period Quick gloved a laserlike wrist shot from Keith.

Shift after shift the waves of pressure we didn t have them at all it seemed Kings center Jarret Stoll said. We didn t have that consistent push we wanted to so therefore we didn t get a lot of scoring opportunities.

Both teams entered the series battle tested having won two of the past three Stanley Cups. The Blackhawks won it in 2010 and had a league high 77 points in this lockout shortened regular season. The Kings are the defending champions and peaking again in the postseason. Each team also survived a seven game series in the second round the Kings taking out the Sharks and the Blackhawks needing overtime to eliminate the Detroit Red Wings.

The Kings welcomed the return of Stoll who missed the final six games of the series against the Sharks after a hit to the head from Raffi Torres in Game 1. But the Blackhawks left the arena knowing they were the team that imposed its style and speed on the Kings and on Quick their seemingly invincible goaltender.

Quick s a good goalie Sharp said. We try not to talk about him too much and go out there and control what we can control.

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Entertainers mourn Jean Stapleton A great actress and a wonderful lady

(CNN) She made it big decades ago yet Jean Stapleton still has plenty of fans.

Some of those fans are entertainers themselves who either worked with Stapleton or were awed and inspired by her work. Others enjoyed her performances while sitting in a Broadway theater or watching from their living rooms.

Below are a sampling a celebrity reactions most of them from Twitter

' All in the Family' star Jean Stapleton dies at 90. One of my favorites has passed away. Jean was Brilliant. RIP

Michael Chiklis

1994 Stapleton Impact of Edith Bunker King remembers Jean Stapleton

It's a sad day. RIP Jean Stapleton. Legend Icon OneOfAKind

Mackenzie Phillips

Jean Stapleton beloved as Edith in ALL IN THE FAMILY dies at 90. She was unforgettable in that role...rest in peace...

Bette Midler

Those Were The Days...Rest In Peace Jean Stapleton

Lynda Carter

Jean Stapleton was a great actress and a wonderful lady. She WAS Edith Bunker.

Larry King

Saddened to hear about Jean Stapleton. She was a gifted actress and comedienne. MBB

William Shatner

RIP Jean Stapleton a great actor whose range was unbelievable deep and majestic.

Roseanne Barr

All In The Family was a great show acting may have been best in sitcom history. Jean Stapleton was unreal will not be forgotten. RIPEdith

Mike Greenberg

Ms. Stapleton was a spectacular actress but her role with Mr. Lear behind the scenes was as funny and authentic as any in TV history. RIP.

Richard Lewis

JEAN STAPLETON an extraordinary actress and part of 1 of the best TV shows in history. Thank you and rest in peace. Xo

Debra Messing

R.I.P. Jean Stapleton such a sweet lady

Dick Van Dyke

Tonight I dedicate ANNIEonBroadway to the great JEAN STAPLETON and her gorgeous memory. jeanstapleton

Jane Lynch

Jean was a brilliant comedienne with exquisite timing. Working with her was one of the greatest experiences of my life.

Rob Reiner who starred on All in the Family with Stapleton in a statement

I was at my computer when her glorious children John and Pam phoned me and I told them I was working on my memoir and reflecting on the time I was father to my personal family on Mooncrest Drive while also fathering Archie and Edith and three other families on CBS. And I added so at 90 here still is Jean Stapleton 'always where she is ' helping me to see my own frailties and humanity yet again. No one gave more profound 'How to be a human being' lessons than Jean Stapleton. Goodbye Edith darling.

Norman Lear the producer and director of All in the Family

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4 Firefighters Killed in Houston Fire Mourned

Anne Sullivan was a gifted athlete filled with energy who came out of high school with a focus on being a firefighter. But about a month after graduating from the Houston Fire Department Academy the 24 year old was among four firefighters who died while searching for people they thought might be trapped in a blazing Houston motel and restaurant.

She had a lot of energy and had her heart set at that her father Jack Sullivan told The Associated Press on Saturday.

Also killed in the collapse during the Friday afternoon fire at the Southwest Inn were Capt. Matthew Renaud 35 who has been with department for 11 years Engineer Operator Robert Bebee 41 who joined the department almost 12 years ago and Firefighter Robert Garner 29 who joined the department 2 years ago.

The Houston Fire Department said 14 firefighters were taken to the hospital Friday. One remained in critical condition on Saturday and another was undergoing surgery. The rest were in stable condition and several have been released from the hospital.

The fire broke out just after noon at a restaurant connected to the Southwest Inn along a busy freeway and quickly spread to the section of the building housing the motel. About 150 firefighters responded and were able to get it under control within about two hours.

The fire was the deadliest in the 118 year history of the department.

Fire officials said they took a high risk in aggressively fighting the fire because they believed people were inside the motel. When a portion of the building collapsed the firefighters were trapped.

Anne Sullivan a soccer player and cross country runner in high school joined the Wharton County Junior College Fire Academy after graduation. She graduated from the Houston Fire Department Academy in April.

Jack Sullivan said he was on his way home from work Friday when he heard about the fire and realized it was in his daughter's area.

I'm thinking she could be involved but maybe not he said.

About 10 minutes later he heard that four firefighters had died in the blaze and began crying in his car. As he approached his house he saw an emergency vehicle parked outside and knew his daughter was among those who had died.

I knew right that instant Sullivan said.

He said that while he'd tried to sway his daughter into a less dangerous line of work such as an EMT he knew that her heart was set on being a firefighter. At 5 foot 2 she had the grit and determination to realize her dream he said.

There was no stopping her Sullivan said.

The father of Garner Jerry Veuleman told the Houston Chronicle ( http //bit.ly/1aMsrEe ) that Garner was proud of his work and had set his sights on becoming a firefighter after leaving the military.

'Use your training. Don't be a hero. God will look after you ' Veuleman recalled telling him. God chose it was time to take Robert and the other firefighters. We are sorry but we are also blessed.

The Houston Fire Department Arson Division is taking the lead in the investigation of the fire with assistance from the State Fire Marshal's Office the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives and the Houston Police Department.

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Angry Protests Grow in Turkey as Police Continue Crackdown

Mr. Erdogan in a televised speech on Saturday morning vowed to go forward with a plan to remake a city park in Taksim Square into a replica Ottoman era army barracks and mall the move that set off the initial protests earlier in the week.

For many demonstrators however the protest has moved beyond that project and become a broad rebuke to the 10 year leadership of Mr. Erdogan and his Islamist rooted Justice and Development Party which they say has adopted authoritarian tactics.

Mr. Erdogan in his first comments on the growing unrest seemed determined to maintain the aggressive police response. His only conciliatory note was to promise to investigate claims of excessive police force against peaceful protesters on Friday that resulted in nearly 1 000 injuries according to the Turkish Doctors Association.

The police were here yesterday they will be there today and they will be there tomorrow in Taksim Mr. Erdogan said.

In late afternoon the police withdrew from Taksim Square and allowed tens of thousands of protesters to gather there unhindered. By evening no police officers were in sight and most of the protesters were gathered on the lawns of the square some drinking beer others chanting antigovernment slogans.

Others went on a rampage destroying buildings used by the construction company that had begun razing the park and throwing rocks at bulldozers.

The widening chaos here and the images it produces threaten to tarnish Turkey s image which Mr. Erdogan has carefully cultivated as a regional power broker able to shape the outcome of the Arab Spring revolutions by presenting itself as a model for the melding of Islam and democracy.

Now Turkey is facing its own civil unrest and the protesters have presented a long list of grievances against Mr. Erdogan and his government including opposition to its policies of supporting Syria s rebels against the government of President Bashar al Assad its crackdown on dissent its intimidation of the news media and unchecked development in Istanbul.

He criticized Assad but he s the same said Murat Uludag 32 who stood off to the side as protesters battled with police officers down an alleyway near the Pera Museum. He s crazy. No one knows what he s doing or thinking. He s completely crazy. Whatever he says today he will say something different tomorrow.

Many of the protesters some of whom voted for Mr. Erdogan said they had grown tired of his leadership which they said had become increasingly dictatorial. Mr. Erdogan still maintains a strong power base among religious conservatives who represent a large voting bloc.

When he first came to power he was a good persuader and a good speaker said Serder Cilik 32 who was sitting at a tea shop watching the chaos unfold. Mr. Cilik said he had voted for Mr. Erdogan in the past but would never do so again.

An older man standing nearby overhearing the conversation yelled Dictator

Mr. Cilik who is unemployed continued He brainwashed people with religion and that s how he got the votes. He fooled us. He s a liar and a dictator.

Protests that began days earlier as a peaceful sit in against the demolition of a central park have widened to neighborhoods across Istanbul and to other cities around the country including Ankara the capital. There was also a protest in New York on Saturday where about 500 people waved Turkish flags and denounced Mr. Erdogan.

In Istanbul the protests turned violent on Saturday as police forces tried to disperse people with tear gas and some protesters pelted them with rocks calling them murderers and fascists.

Police helicopters flew low over Istiklal Street a main pedestrian thoroughfare which would normally be clogged with tourists but on Saturday resembled a war zone with shops shuttered and antigovernment graffiti sprayed on some shop windows. Using the Turkish initials of Mr. Erdogan s party one message on the facade of a department store in blue spray paint read A.K.P. to the grave the people to reign.

As they winced and rubbed their eyes of tear gas protesters wagged their middle fingers at the helicopters and chanted that the government should step down.

On streets running off Istiklal young men tore up granite slabs from the sidewalk and bashed them against the road picking up the splintered pieces to throw at the police. On some streets protesters set up makeshift barricades with trash cans panels of wallboard from construction sites and potted plants taken from outside fancy hotels.

On another major boulevard protesters stopped a municipal water truck which they believed was on its way to refill the police water cannons and opened its valves flooding the street. Nearby protesters marched past the headquarters of the state television network T.R.T. shouting Burn the state media

Many of the protesters complained about the lack of coverage on Turkish television and said the silence of much of the local news media would help the protest movement grow because people unable to see events on television would want to see them for themselves. Some newspapers also were largely silent on the protests on Saturday morning the lead story in Sabah a major pro government newspaper was about Mr. Erdogan s promoting a campaign against smoking.

His party has accused opposition parties of stoking the protests and in the late afternoon Mr. Erdogan weighed in on Twitter Their issue is how can we hit the A.K.P. Wherever they try to hit us we will stand tall and strong.

Colin Moynihan contributed reporting from New York.

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Mom baby three others killed as tornadoes hit Oklahoma City suburbs

Oklahoma was in the crosshairs of another tornado outbreak on Friday killing five and injuring more than 50 others. After multiple twisters touched down the hit areas were struck with high flooding. This is a shell shocked city said NBC's Janet Shamlian.

Dawn revealed the destruction of a deadly swarm of twisters that struck shell shocked Oklahoma late Friday amid new fears about life threatening flash floods.

Five tornadoes one a half mile wide ripped into the Oklahoma City area Friday evening killing a mother her baby and at least three other people.

All five people killed were in vehicles and may have been trying to flee as dark clouds gathered and warning sirens wailed authorities said.

Marcus Jolly 32 of El Reno told The Oklahoman newspaper the scene along Interstate 40 was a war zone. There were semis turned over and skeletons of buildings remaining.

The twisters came just 11 days after a monster tornado left 24 dead in the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore where power outages were reported Friday.

Mark Wiley meteorologist at the National Weather Service s southern region headquarters in Fort Worth said early Saturday that there had been five confirmed tornadoes in the Oklahoma City area on Friday and one in the Tulsa area early Saturday.

Hospitals in Oklahoma City reported 104 casualties including five critical patients.

A total of 12 tornadoes hit Missouri and Illinois around St. Louis where numerous homes were damaged. Wiley did not have any information about casualties there. Two twisters touched down briefly in North Dakota but did not do any damage.

The Oklahoma City area definitely experienced the worst of the bad weather Wiley said with wind gusts of up to 90 mph baseball sized hail and extensive flooding.

We have several reports of water going into homes and dozens of people having to be rescued on the streets especially along Interstate 40 Wiley said. It was not a good night to be in the Oklahoma City area.

For Saturday Wiley said the storm was moving toward Arkansas Kentucky Tennessee and East Texas but did not look as severe as yesterday.

There was still a threat of large hail damaging winds and flooding but the tornado threat is lower today than it was yesterday he said. The threat of a large tornado was very small he added.

The worry today turns to flash flooding. Wiley said about 6 to 8 inches of rain had fallen in 12 hours between 7 p.m. Friday and 7 am. CT Saturday.

Friday the terror came from tornadoes boasting baseball sized hail and winds so strong they tossed tractor trailers off the interstate.

An SUV used by Weather Channel meteorologist Mike Bettes and a crew of storm trackers was thrown 200 yards by one tornado near Oklahoma City suburb El Reno. The vehicle tumbled about eight times and came to rest in a field Bettes said. Some members of the crew suffered minor injuries and the vehicle was destroyed.

That was the scariest moment of my life Bettes said. I saw my life flash before my eyes.

4Warn Storm Team meteorologist Emily Sutton and 4Warn Storm Team storm chaser Kevin Josefy also had a close call with a tornado near El Reno broadcasting live as they fled.

Later Sutton told NBC station KFOR of Oklahoma City that they were driving near the twister when it started to turn.

All of a sudden we felt the wind behind us picking up picking up she said.

She said chunks of trees began falling in front of our eyes. I felt stuff hitting my back and I knew that's not right ... all I did was just say 'Oh my God ' and then we just kept our composure because you've got to keep moving on.

KFOR TV

Click to view scenes from Friday's violent storm.

Launch slideshow

Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Betsy Randolph said the woman and baby were killed when the SUV they were in overturned on Interstate 40 between El Reno and Yukon.

One person was killed in Yukon and two others died elsewhere KFOR reported citing the state medical examiner's office. KFOR reported that all the victims were in vehicles.

Brooke Cayot a spokeswoman for Integris Health said 71 people were treated for injuries at the hospital system's facilities in the Oklahoma City area after the tornadoes struck.

Spokespeople for OU Medical Center St. Anthony Hospital and Mercy Health Center said they had received a total of 27 patients. Of those 10 were still being treated and 17 had been released.

Eric Ferguson public information officer with the OU Medical Center said four patients two adults and two children were in critical condition.

Oklahoma resident Garrett Occhipinti speaks with MSNBC via phone about a photo he took of the storm that showed massive wall clouds stretching for over a mile.

Many of the injured were hurt in accidents along Interstates 35 and 40 west of the city where at least three semi trailer rigs were overturned after the biggest tornado touched down near El Reno authorities said.

Authorities said some of the worst damage on Friday was from flooding around El Reno and Yukon and the danger continued into Saturday.

The National Weather Service issued flash flood warnings for parts of Oklahoma early Saturday.

At 2 21 a.m. CDT National Weather Service radar and rain gauges indicated over six inches of rain has fallen across parts of Oklahoma and Canadian counties. Additional storms will move across these counties through the early morning with additional 1 to 2 inches of rain possible. Life threatening flooding is already occurring and will continue for the next several hours the weather service said.

There were also flash flood warnings in place for parts of Iowa Illinois Indiana Missouri Arkansas and Kansas.

On Friday one tornado turned south from Oklahoma City and then toward the suburb of Moore which was hit by a devastating twister on May 20 that killed 24 people and injured hundreds of others.

I think we are still a little shaken by what happened in Moore. We are still burying children and victims so our emotions are still strong Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett told Reuters.

More than 94 000 customers were without power in the metro area according to the OG E power company including bout 12 000 customers in Moore.

Power company Ameren said there were 87 000 outages in Missouri and 30 000 in Illinois.

Interstates 35 and 40 were closed. We've got a terrible situation going on Trooper Randolph told NBC station KFOR of Oklahoma City.

Dylan Dreyer MSNBC meteorologist updates Rachel Maddow with the latest details of tornadic storms sweeping across the Oklahoma City area.

Gov. Mary Fallin declared a state of emergency.

This has been a very large storm that hit a lot of communities she told KFOR. She said she had heard from at least 30 fellow governors offering assistance.

At Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City where winds hit 71 mph all flights were canceled and about 1 000 travelers were herded underground where they were told to put their hands on their heads. The airport reopened Saturday morning but all morning departures were canceled.

Tornado warnings meaning a funnel cloud that could become a tornado had been spotted in the area were in effect much of the day for numerous counties in Oklahoma Missouri Illinois and Wisconsin.

Forecasters sounded the alarm that much of the Midwest already pummeled by a week of tornadoes and flooded with drenching rains was facing another round of violent weather overnight and into the weekend.

Observers at Tinker Air Force Base reported a tornado on the ground near the base southwest of Oklahoma City. In Norman home to the University of Oklahoma a tornado touched down near Norman North High School and Norman Regional Hospital.

Buildings at Lambert St. Louis International Airport were damaged by tornadoes with debris strewn across the runway. The airport was closed because of the damage but re opened just before midnight the airport said in a statement.

Another tornado touched down Friday night 7 miles northeast of Moscow Mills Mo. about 50 miles northwest of St. Louis. In St. Charles County 24 houses were severely damaged or destroyed said Mike O'Connell communications director for the Missouri Department of Public Safety.

The National Weather Service evacuated its St. Louis office as tornado warnings were issued for north and northeastern St. Louis and surrounding counties.

Severe thunderstorm warnings meanwhile stretched from Minnesota and Michigan south to Arkansas. Forecasters said storms overnight could bring several more intense tornadoes hail up to 4 inches in diameter and wind gusts approaching 80 mph.

Janet Shamlian and Aaron Marmelstein of NBC News Mike Bettes of The Weather Channel and Reuters contributed to this report. Follow M. Alex Johnson on Twitter and Facebook.

Related

More Oklahoma twisters Latest outbreak fits Tornado Alley's pattern Midwest tornadoes like a giant game of Battleship

This story was originally published on Sat Jun 1 2013 1 19 AM EDT

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After Earth ponders world without humanity

Environmental themes abound in After Earth the science fiction film starring Will Smith and Jaden Smith. Director M. Night Shymalan muses on nature's judgment as seen in the film.

Will Smith and his son Jaden star in the post apocalyptic thriller After Earth. (Photo Sony/Columbia Pictures)

A world empty of other people might sound pleasant in our over connected over sharing Internet age. No more marketing calls on the cellphone traffic jams or radio call in show blather.

But in After Earth which stars Will Smith the adventure flick vision of the future without other people looks less ideal. Hidden deep in the muscular science fiction film says director M. Night Shyamalan are the lessons of environmental scientists on the impact of people on our planet.

Much of the fun he says in planning the film which opened Friday was trying to contemplate a suitably adventurous world where Smith and his son Jaden play space rangers who crash land and find the heavy hand of humanity abruptly removed for a thousand years from Earth. Increasing numbers of studies looking from the skies to the ocean depths have documented our impact The stocks of large predatory fish such as tuna swordfish and cod are less 10% of their levels before industrial fishing. On land big cats such as lions numbered in the hundreds of thousands a century ago and today there are less than 35 000 in Africa. On the wing at least 10% of bird species are likely to disappear by the end of the century at present rates of population decline. So what would it mean to have a world without us

The science that is in there nobody will get in the back row Shyamalan says with a laugh. What struck him about the movie its adventure plot written with its star Smith and Shymalan were environmental studies and books digested in a year of planning the production. I was struck by one biologist's observation that birds would blight the sky without us he says.

There is a line in Moby Dick that always stuck with me about man and nature Shyamalan says. (In Moby Dick author Herman Melville wrote one knows not what sweet mystery about this sea whose gently awful stirrings seem to speak of some hidden soul beneath. ) Even though he is best known for suspense films rather than cliff jumping action films he says he saw the sense of biblical judgment in the fury of nature underlying the film. It's a theme he sees in many discussions about the future going on now in society and that is reflected in a sort of hippie/monk future for humanity seen in the film.

We didn't want the Blade Runner future where technology has overrun nature which to some extent is where we are headed now Shyamalan says. Not in a Kumbaya way we wanted a future where people try to use only what they have to survive.

STORY 'After Earth' leaves a bad aftertaste

Underlining the film's themes Jaden Smith stars in a NASA public service announcement released in conjunction with the movie touting NASA's fleet of environment monitoring satellites. So that we never have to leave Smith says in the video unlike the Earth fleeing plot of After Earth.

A lot of writers have tackled these themes of the film perhaps most notably The World Without Us by Alan Weisman which looked at how our homes cities and farms would disintegrate within years and decades without our everyday efforts and James Kunstler's The Long Emergency which pointed to troubles for the suburbs in coming decades. In the movie humanity gets by with no metal and no right angles Shyamalan says.

As always he says the preparation for a movie is best if it remains hidden. Which may be just as well because some of the other science in the movie say geology and evolution are given the Hollywood treatment for dramatic effect.

For example a piece of Africa somehow has mashed into North America's West Coast in a thousand years explaining a cliff jump that goes from redwood forests to tropical jungle in one fell swoop. And whole new species appear to have evolved in that same time period.

One idea we played with is that domesticated animals would become dominant and feral because you start out with so many of them says the director. Feral pigs have done so in just a few decades nationwide for example with more than 5 million roaming from Texas to Wisconsin.

After Earth is a science fiction adventure after all a father and son story that Smith originally pitched to Shyamalan during a happy birthday call. It did teach me a lot about adrenaline where a lot of my films have been focused instead on suspense Shyamalan says suggesting he is more likely to go back to less muscular movies next time.

As soon as you say that be careful I'll probably end up directing Vin Diesel in Fast Furious 7 he jokes. You never know about the future.

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Storm brings tornadoes dumps heavy rain on Oklahoma Missouri

Are you there Stay safe and send iReport your photos and video.

(CNN) A storm system that wrought havoc on the Oklahoma City metropolitan area generating a handful of tornadoes that killed five people and sent tens of thousands scrambling for shelter moved late Friday over Missouri.

The National Weather Service warned a confirmed and extremely dangerous tornado was near the city of Harvester about 25 miles northwest of St. Louis.

There were no immediate reports of catastrophic damage or major injuries in the St. Louis area said Jeff Rainford the chief of staff for Mayor Francis Slay. Lambert St. Louis International Airport was closed because of the severe weather and minor damage was reported to a terminal he said.

As authorities in Missouri urged people to take shelter officials in Oklahoma were working to determine how many people had been killed and injured in the storm that battered the state's largest city.

Watch as tornado nears ground in OK

A mother and a child were among five people killed as a result of severe weather and another 14 were injured authorities said.

At the height of the storm the National Weather Service issued a tornado emergency for a number of areas in and around Oklahoma's capital city with tornadoes reported outside Moore near the suburb of Bethany north of Union City and outside Tinker Air Force Base.

Parts of Interstates 35 and 40 which cut through Oklahoma City and Moore were a parking lot the weather service said warning that those caught in the heavy rush hour traffic are in danger.

We've got a nightmare situation going on right now Betsy Randolph a state Highway Patrol spokeswoman told CNN.

They are essentially sitting ducks on the interstate.

Overturned big rigs and cars littered portions of the roadway and thousands more were believed to be stuck in the traffic.

My biggest concern right now is the traffic that is out on the highway right now Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin said.

She said she has called out the National Guard the Oklahoma Highway Patrol and the state Office of Emergency Management to try to get the traffic moving and get people to shelter.

The weather service issued the tornado emergency for Oklahoma City as well as its suburbs of Moore Yukon and Bethany.

Oklahoma City's Will Rogers World Airport was evacuated over the threat from the approaching tornado and travelers were sheltered in the airport's basement at the height of the storm authorities said.

They are now in the process of slowly allowing people out of their shelter. They are bringing employees up now and then the passengers will be able to come up once the terminal is properly staffed said Karen Carney a spokeswoman for the airport.

Right now the airport has no power. Without power they probably will not be able to allow passengers into the secure areas of the airport. But they obviously can't allow any takeoffs and landings without power either.

Even those in the National Weather Center a building on the University of Oklahoma campus with tenants that include the National Severe Storms Laboratory and NOAA's Storm Prediction Center have been urged to stay away from windows due to potential for 80 90 mph winds according to a tweet from weather service's Norman office which also is based in the building.

Police and firefighters were responding to reports of damage in El Reno just outside Union City but it was not immediately known how bad the damage was Mayor Matt White said.

Authorities were urging people in the path of the tornado to take immediate cover and Fallin was urging residents not to take any risks.

In Moore where a massive tornado leveled much of the city this month Mayor Glenn Lewis said it was unimaginable that the city was in the path of another tornado.

A reported tornado moved four miles northwest of Moore according to the National Weather Service forecasters and storm spotters.

The storm was so fierce that the Weather Channel's Mike Bettes known for his on the ground severe weather reports said his Tornado Hunt vehicle was thrown about 200 yards.

Airbags deployed. All are safe Bettes said in a post on Twitter.

More than 50 000 customers were without power by early Friday evening in the Oklahoma City area because of severe weather the Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co. said.

More than half the city of Mustang 17 miles south of Oklahoma City was without power Mustang Fire Chief Roy Widmann said.

CNN's Joe Sutton Jennifer Feldman Chandler Friedman and Dave Alsup contributed to this report.

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