Baku, May 7, AZERTAC

Authorities are set to survey the damage left behind after tornadoes swept across the southern Plains, overturning cars and destroying dozens of homes near Oklahoma City, according to Fox news.

At least 12 people were injured, but no deaths were immediately reported from the twisters that also hit rural parts of Texas, Kansas and Nebraska on Wednesday night.

Also in Grady County, all animals were accounted for after a zoo in Tuttle was hit by a tornado, Alisa Voegeli, a dispatcher at the sheriff's office, said. The damage had initially prompted fears that wild animals had escaped.

At Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City, people were twice evacuated into a tunnel outside the security zone.

After the tornadoes passed through, flash flooding remained a concern.

The National Weather Service received widespread reports of 5 to 8 inches of rain in the area, Mitchell said. A measurement of 7.1 inches at the Oklahoma City airport set a new daily rainfall record, he said, topping the previous record of 2.61 inches.

Oklahoma City spokeswoman Kristy Yager said the rainfall prompted the city to issue a flash flood emergency for the first time in its history. Emergency crews were canvassing the city Wednesday night, she said.

O'Leary said the ambulance service responded to water rescues "all over" the Oklahoma City metro area. Two ambulance crews required also assistance after getting stuck in high water, she said.

A flash flood warning was in effect for parts of six counties in central Oklahoma until 9 a.m. The same warning was also in effect for two counties in north-central Texas. That area also saw reports of tornadoes late Wednesday, but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries, according to Mitchell.

In Nebraska, 10 to 15 homes were damaged near Grand Island, and between Hardy and Ruskin, near the Kansas line.

At least nine tornadoes were reported in Kansas, the strongest of them in the sparsely populated north-central part of the state. That included a large tornado near the tiny town of Republic just south of the Nebraska state line, where some homes were damaged. In Harvey County, a tornado destroyed a hog barn and damaged trees, according to the National Weather Service.

The Storm Prediction Center had warned that bad weather would come to Tornado Alley and said more storms were possible later in the week.

"People just really need to stay weather aware, have a plan and understand that severe storms are possible across portions of the southern Plains almost daily through Saturday," meteorologist Jonathan Kurtz said.