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OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Authorities say search and rescue crews are combing an area of northwest Oklahoma around the towns of Woodward and Tangier after a tornado just after midnight, local time, left five people confirmed dead and several others injured.

Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management spokeswoman Keli Cain said early Sunday that state medical examiner's office had confirmed the fatalities in the Woodward area.

Woodward Mayor Roscoe Hill say sirens apparently were not sounding though they had worked for earlier storms. Hill says the tornado hit in a mixed area of residences and businesses.

Forecasters continue to warn that the possibility for "life threatening" severe weather still exists today across the Midwest and Plains.

Storms were reported yesterday in Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska and Oklahoma. In western Iowa, a large part of the town of Thurman was destroyed.