Houston, May 23 (Antara/Xinhua-OANA) - The deadly tornado that blasted the southern suburbs of Oklahoma City, capital of the US state of Oklahoma, has affected more than 12,000 homes, officials said Thursday.

The estimate of the number of homes damaged or destroyed by Monday`s tornado is based in part on an analysis of before-and-after aerial photos, ABC news quoted officials in Oklahoma City as reporting.

The city`s police department and the mayor`s office have both estimated that the number of homes affected in Oklahoma and its southern suburb of Moore at about 12,000, according to the report.

The mayor`s chief of staff Steve Hill said Thursday that officials estimated that 12,600 homes were in or close enough to the twister`s path to be affected.

Meanwhile, officials said, about 33,000 people are thought to have been affected.

Michelann Ooten, deputy director of the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management, said Thursday her office was working to compile an estimate of the number of destroyed or damaged houses.

The tornado did as much as 2 billion US dollars in damage, according to officials.

Twenty-four people were killed and more than 200 others injured when a massive tornado ripped through Moore in the southern part of the Oklahoma city metropolitan area Monday afternoon, devastating homes and buildings.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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