Woman finds dog alive in rubble from Oklahoma tornado (VIDEO)

An elderly lady, who thought she had lost everything in the Oklahoma City tornado, is reunited with her dog live on air, after the animal emerged from the rubble of her home.

The woman was talking to a reporter from CBS affiliate KWTV about her devastation at the loss of her home and her dog, when a member of the film crew spotted the animal crawling out of the ruins of the house in the flattened suburb of Moore.

The tornado, measuring at least a mile in width, tore through the suburbs of Oklahoma City with winds up to 200mph (320km/h), completely destroying buildings including one primary school.

Less than 1% of all tornados reach the speed of this ferocious storm, which President Barack Obama has declared a major disaster.

More than 120 people have been receiving treatment at hospitals, including about 50 children. Search-and-rescue efforts were continuing throughout the night.

Around 20 of the victims were children, killed when Plaza Towers Elementary School took a direct hit from the tornado. Several more children are thought to be still trapped in the rubble.

“The school was flattened. The walls were pancaked in,” said Oklahoma’s Lt Gov Todd Lamb.

“There’s still roughly two dozen children that are missing. There have been some bodies recovered from that school and it’s absolutely horrific and devastating.”

Oklahoma governor Mary Fallin added: “This is a very sad day for the state of Oklahoma – a very hard day and very tragic day.

“Our prayers and our thoughts are with all the Oklahoma families that have been hit hard by this terrible storm. We are doing every single thing that we can to assist those that are in need right now.”

The storm destroyed scores of buildings in Moore, a community of 41,000 people about 10 miles (16 km) south of Oklahoma City. It was the fourth tornado to hit Moore since 1998. A twister also struck in 2003.