Storm system spawns tornadoes in FloridaStory Highlights
At least four people hurt in Pensacola, Florida, sheriff spokesman says
Tornado hits day care, but children OK, sheriff spokesman says
Storm skips over high school, hits mall, official says
Tornado kills couple in Missouri, CNN affiliate says
(CNN) -- A tornado pummeled Pensacola, Florida, on Thursday as a huge storm system threatened heavy rain and dangerous weather from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada.
Christy Fayard took this photo of an overturned car in the parking lot of a store Thursday in Pensacola, Florida.
1 of 3 Video from CNN affiliate WEAR showed a funnel cloud against a dark horizon in Pensacola, near the Alabama line.
The tornado hit a church day-care center, but the children had been moved to a safe location inside Little Rock Baptist Church, said Glenn Austin of the Escambia County Sheriff's Office.
"It just seemed to move straight through like a slice," Austin said.
He said the tornado lasted more than 40 minutes.
"It just ripped apart power lines right and left, it started removing roofs from a number of homes, we had a day care -- and I don't know the name of the day care -- that took a direct hit.
"We are very fortunate, though, to let you know that the kids had been moved to another part of the church, so they're safe, thank goodness."
The tornado skipped over Pensacola High School, Austin added.
"We had about 15 or 20 minutes notice from the weather service that Doppler radar indicated that there was, in fact, a rotation in this one severe thunderstorm," Mayor John Fogg told CNN.
"We aren't used to tornados in this area," which is more prone to hurricanes, he said.
"Here at the sheriff's office, we were evacuated down to the basement at one point," he said.
A shopping mall also was hit by the tornado that emerged from black skies over downtown Pensacola, WEAR reported. Watch the storm rip through Pensacola »
Christie Fayard said she and co-workers saw the tornado from their building about two miles away.
"We took cover. We just went to a break room and let it pass," said Fayard, who is the sister of CNN correspondent Ed Lavandera.
After the storm passed, Fayard left work and saw a vehicle overturned in a Target store parking lot.
"We had ample warning," Fayard said. "I think the local media did a great job [warning people]."
Earlier Thursday, two people died in their mobile home when high winds from a possible tornado hit northeastern Missouri, CNN affiliate KMBC reported.
Other tornadoes struck the southwestern part of the state but did not cause much damage, KMBC added.
Wednesday night, two tents were blown down at Tulsa's Oktoberfest, sending 21 people to hospitals, Tina Wells, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Emergency Medical Services Authority, told The Associated Press.
Oktoberfest organizer Michael Sanders told CNN he and about 2,000 other people went into a beer garden tent as a light rain started to fall on the festival.
"Soon as I got in there, within seconds, without warning, there was this huge gust of wind ... and the tent started collapsing," Sanders said.
The thunderstorms damaged about 25 mobile homes and travel trailers in a mobile home park near Oologah, northeast of Tulsa, the Oologah-Talala Emergency Medical Services District said.
None of the five injuries reported was believed to be life threatening, officials said. Trees and power lines were down throughout the area.
Four victims had been in one mobile home that was destroyed, AP reported.
Wind gusts in Kingfisher County reached 86 mph, Emergency Management Director Steve Loftis told the AP.
A tornado damaged six homes in a rural area near Mount Vernon, Missouri, Lawrence County Sheriff's Lt. Brad Delay told CNN. Delay said he followed the tornado in his patrol car.
About 4 inches of rain brought flash flooding and high stream levels in Kansas City, Missouri, CNN affiliate KMBC reported.
A teenage boy was swept away by water rushing through a culvert, but he managed to pull himself to safety before rescuers arrived, KMBC reported.
Flooding from the same storm system is threatening the autumn harvest in Iowa, where high water also ruined farmers' first plantings in the spring, CNN affiliate KETV in Omaha, Nebraska, reported.
The storm system was moving Thursday morning through the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley. A tornado watch covered much of Indiana on Thursday morning.
