The death toll arising from the Oklahoma tornado has risen from 14 to 18 from the last count, this as search crews recovered more bodies. On May 31, an outbreak of tornadoes tore through the Oklahoma City area of El Reno taking with it property and lives.

According to a report filed on Tuesday by the National Weather Service, the deadly tornado had a record-breaking width of 2.6 miles and was the second top-of-the-scale EF5 twister to hit the area in less than two weeks.

The storm packed winds are estimated to have reached 295mph. A number of the deaths reported were as a result of the heavy flash flooding that followed the storms, among the victims are twelve adults and six children.

Previously rated as an EF3, the tornado hit was upgraded to EF5 by the weather service following a survey of the damage from the twister as well as the floods that killed the people. The upgrade means that two of the extremely rare EF5 tornados have hit Oklahoma City area in only 11 days. The second tornado, which occurred on May 20, hit Moore, which is a city that is located about 25 miles away from El Reno killing 24 people and causing widespread damage.

The massive tornado could have taken a lot more lives had it not avoided the highly populated areas near and around Oklahoma City.

“Any house would have been completely swept clean on the foundation. That’s just my speculation,” said Rick Smith, chief warning coordination meteorologist for the weather service’s office in Norman.

“We’re looking at extremes…in the rare EF5 category. This in the super rare category because we don’t deal with things like this often.” Rick added.

“It could have been much worse had the violent twister tracked to the north,” said Matt White, El Reno mayor.

“If it was two miles this way, it would have wiped out all of downtown, almost every one of our subdivisions and almost all our businesses,” White said.”It would have taken out everything. It’s very scary…I don’t think a normal person can fathom just how scary. I don’t think they realize how lucky El Reno was.”

The three dead storm chasers were Tim Samaras, a star of the Discovery channel show “Storm Chasers,” his son Paul, and a friend, Carl Young. Some other people are still on the missing list, and according to the Oklahoma City Fire Department, since their bodies floated away, it makes it difficult to find them.