The cost of the massive Oklahoma tornado could top two billion dollars (€1.5bn), according to early estimates.

Rescue workers neared the end of the search for survivors and the dead in the Oklahoma City suburb where a mammoth tornado destroyed countless homes, cleared areas down to bare earth and claimed 24 lives, including nine children.

Emergency crews were nearing the end of their search for survivors last night in the broken remnants of an Oklahoma City suburb where a massive tornado flattened homes and demolished a primary school.

The search for survivors and the dead in the Oklahoma City suburb raked by a massive tornado was almost complete last night.