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‘God is with us' -- Teen's photo of cross in tornado debris going viral

MOORE, Oklahoma — A tornado ripped through parts of Oklahoma, destroying homes and leaving at least one person dead.

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Amid the destruction, there’s an image being shared across social media that’s bringing hope in the affected community.

Chase Rhodes, a high school student from Moore, Oklahoma, took a picture of a power pole Wednesday that was left hanging in the form of a cross surrounded by destruction.

Rhodes captioned the Tweet with “God is with us.” It has since been retweeted more than 1,000 times.

https://twitter.com/Chase__Rhodes/status/580897472597250048

Tulsa County Sheriff’s Capt. Billy McKelvey said one person was killed in the mobile home park in the Tulsa suburb of Sand Springs.

“It could have been much worse,” he said.

A National Weather Service meteorologist said survey teams would be sent to assess the damage Thursday but that it was likely a twister that hit Sand Springs.

Gov. Mary Fallin declared a state of emergency for 25 Oklahoma counties that were hit hardest by the storm, including the state's two largest — Oklahoma and Tulsa counties.

"We're still assessing the damage across Moore, Yukon, other areas of the state, especially in the Tulsa area," Fallin said Thursday after touring an elementary school in the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore, where a roof was torn off and many of the classrooms were soaked with water. "We've been down this road before. We know what to do."

Twenty-four people died in a top-of-the-scale EF5 tornado in Moore in 2013, and a small twister hit the town on Wednesday night. Others formed along a line from southwest of Oklahoma City to east of Tulsa, and some touched down in the Ozark Mountains of northwestern Arkansas.

Channel 11's sister station WSB-TV in Atlanta contributed to this report.

WPXI

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