The number of fatalities attributed to the May 20 EF-5 tornado in Moore, Okla., has been lowered, according to the National Weather Service.
On its website Friday, the Service’s Storm Prediction Center reported one of the 24 people who died last week after the storm has been removed from the official count.
The SPC said one of the deaths initially blamed on the tornado that ravaged the Oklahoma City suburb has since been deemed an indirect death. You can read the report here: http://1.usa.gov/14gTxQj
It wasn’t immediately clear which of the 24 victims was removed from the count.
In the hours immediately after it struck, authorities feared the death count in Moore could approach the hundreds. But the next morning, a count that had gone as high as 91 by some reports became the 24 that had been reported since.
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The drop to 23 comes as another series of tornadoes struck the area Friday, killing at least another five people. Moore was hit with a powerful thunderstorm, but was spared another touchdown by a tornado.
Besides the recent tornado fatalities in Oklahoma, which include two others the day before the Moore tornado, nine other people have died from tornadoes in the United States in 2013. according to the SPC. Six of those happened last month in Hood County, Texas.
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