CNN) -- A tornado pummeled Pensacola, Florida, on Thursday as a huge storm system threatened heavy rain and dangerous weather from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada.
A tornado drops from pitch-black clouds over Pensacola, Florida, on Thursday morning.
1 of 3 Video from CNN affiliate WEAR showed a funnel cloud against a dark horizon in Pensacola, near the Alabama line.
The tornado hit a church day-care center, but the children had been moved to a safe location inside Little Rock Baptist Church, said Glenn Austin of the Escambia County Sheriff's Office.
"It just seemed to move straight through like a slice," Austin said.
He said the tornado lasted more than 40 minutes.
"It just ripped apart power lines right and left, it started removing roofs from a number of homes, we had a day care -- and I don't know the name of the day care -- that took a direct hit.
"We are very fortunate, though, to let you know that the kids had been moved to another part of the church, so they're safe, thank goodness."
The tornado skipped over Pensacola High School, Austin added.
A shopping mall also was hit by the tornado that emerged from black skies over downtown Pensacola, WEAR reported. No injuries were reported initially. Watch the storm rip through Pensacola ยป
Earlier Thursday, two people died in their mobile home when high winds from a possible tornado hit northeastern Missouri, CNN affiliate KMBC reported.
Other tornadoes struck the southwestern part of the state but did not cause much damage, KMBC added.
Wednesday night, two tents were blown down at Tulsa's Oktoberfest, sending 21 people to hospitals, Tina Wells, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Emergency Medical Services Authority, told The Associated Press.
Oktoberfest organizer Michael Sanders told CNN he and about 2,000 other people went into a beer garden tent as a light rain started to fall on the festival.
"Soon as I got in there, within seconds, without warning, there was this huge gust of wind ... and the tent started collapsing," Sanders said.
The thunderstorms damaged about 25 mobile homes and travel trailers in a mobile home park near Oologah, northeast of Tulsa, the Oologah-Talala Emergency Medical Services District said.
None of the five injuries reported was believed to be life threatening, officials said. Trees and power lines were down throughout the area.
Four victims had been in one mobile home that was destroyed, AP reported.
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