NWS issues tornado watch for western, northern Oklahoma until 10 p.m.

The National Weather Service has issued a tornado watch for 27 counties in western and northern Oklahoma.

The watch extends along and 95 miles north and south of a line from 10 miles northeast of Topeka, Kan., to 45 miles west-southwest of Altus.

Twenty-seven counties are included in the watch, which runs until 10 p.m. Wednesday.

Parts of the Oklahoma City metro area, including Chickasha, El Reno and Guthrie, along with the cities of Altus, Enid, Lawton, Ponca City and Woodward fall within the watch area.

Besides tornadoes, very large hail and heavy rain are possible.

Several tornadoes were reported in Oklahoma and Kansas as Monday’s storms moved through, dumping hail as big as softballs, splintering homes and downing hundreds of power lines.

Meanwhile, Oklahoma City Deputy Fire Chief Cecil Clay refused to rule out the possibility of finding more dead. He said conditions were tough for rescue workers.

“We have heavy fog and ower lines down, making it difficult to see all the hazards out there,” he said.

Oklahoma authorities lowered the storms’ death toll from five to two after learning three children who were reported killed had survived.

An Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management spokeswoman said Tuesday that the children were injured in the storms that killed their Cleveland County mother and a man in Oklahoma City.

A miscommunication was blamed for the errant report about the children, who remain in critical condition in an Oklahoma City-area hospital. At least 58 other people were injured.

Gov. Brad Henry declared a state of emergency in 56 Oklahoma counties.

The line of storms swept through Kansas and into Oklahoma on Monday evening, leveling houses and flipping cars. Forecasters using advanced technology, fueled by supercomputers crunching atmospheric data, began predicting the severe weather last week.