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 MOORE, Okla. (AP) — The cost of a massive tornado that battered an Oklahoma City suburb could be more than $2 billion, according to a preliminary official estimate announced Wednesday. State authorities meanwhile said two infants were among the 24 people who perished in the twister.
Oklahoma Insurance Department spokeswoman Calley Herth told The Associated Press that the early damage tally is based on visual assessments of the extensive disaster zone that stretches more than 17 miles and the fact that Monday’s tornado was on the ground for 40 minutes.
The financial cost of the tornado in Moore could be greater than the $2 billion in damage from the 2011 tornado that killed 158 people in Joplin, Mo., Herth said, adding that the Joplin twister left a smaller trail of destruction.
Authorities have yet to say how many homes were damaged or destroyed, but an aerial view of the site shows whole neighborhoods obliterated, with gouged earth littered with splintered wood and pulverized cars.
Dan Ramsey, president of the Independent Insurance Agents of Oklahoma, said a damage estimate in the low billions is “not surprising.”

Igor and the Red Elvises, brings the party to Los Alamos Friday.
The Red Elvises started out as a Siberian wedding band, an ambitious Russian folk band named Limpopo, coming to the United States in the mid-1980’s. They lived in Santa Monica, Calif., and became popular there. They were introduced to President Ronald Reagan as a “hellipcrazy” Russian Folk ‘n’ Roll group, and in 1993 won on Ed McMahon’s International Star Search TV show. The Red Elvises formed in 1995 after lead singer, Igor Yuzov had a dream where Elvis Presley told him to become a rocker.
“Fans from Los Alamos to Los Angeles, Seattle to Miami and all around the world (yes, the world) say, ‘Oh, you have to see them live. They’re so much fun!’ I’d bet there’s at least a thousand people in this town alone who agree,” Organizer Russell Gordon said. “They’re tremendous showmen. They’re always touring, always evolving. They’re talented and entertaining. I was checking them out on Facebook and there are a whole lot of new songs. There are some new members yet they’re still a tight band and very talented. Even if they aren’t your favorite band, they could be yours as they are mine, favorite “party” band.”

80-year-old Japanese mountain climber Yuichiro Miura reached the top of Mount Everest on Thursday. Miura is the oldest person to ever reach the Mount Everest summit.

The explosion of the fertilizer plant in the small town of West, Texas, a few weeks ago, killed dozens of people, injured many more, and blew the walls off numbers of buildings. Has that affected your thinking about how to reduce the cost of government?
Texas Gov. Rick Perry commented in a televised interview that maybe we need to consider toughening the regulations on the storage of such dangerous chemicals.
That’s the same Rick Perry who, as a presidential candidate, famously called for the elimination of three major federal agencies and couldn’t remember one of them. Eliminating government excess sounds a whole lot easier in fuzzy generalities than in the wake of a tragedy.
Shall we reduce the staffing of the agencies that enforce the regulation of the storage of explosive chemicals? Regulations generally are effective only when regulatory agencies are capable of enforcing them. Do you need more evidence? Think back to Wall Street, 2008, and policies based on the belief — expressed by the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, among others — that the financial industry would regulate itself.