(Image Source: The New York Times )     BY JOHN O’CONNOR     More than 20 children have been killed in Moore, Oklahoma after a deadly tornado tore through the area, leveling two elementary schools .   “Authorities say seven children died at the Plaza Towers Elementary School.  There is nothing left of the school, it is just a pile of brick. The other school is Briarwood Elementary.”    Authorities say children were not released from school due to the potential for severe weather. Both schools were in the direct path of the monstrous EF-4 tornado , which was two miles wide and produced winds in excess of 166 miles per hour.    Oklahoma Lieutenant Governor Todd Lamb tells ABC News that the walls of the Plaza Towers Elementary School was completely flattened by the storm, but the children there might not have been killed by falling debris.   “The students were grouped together, that’s why some reports have been so far that they were killed either by crushing blows or drowning. Because they were grouped together and the water came in and they couldn’t get out.”    A reporter for KOFR in Oklahoma City tells MSNBC while many of the children from both schools have been reunited with their families, the death toll is still expected to rise as search teams continue scouring through the wreckage this morning.   “That seven, that number is expected to grow. And across the city of Moore that number is expected to grow exponentially.”   Currently, there are 51 confirmed deaths as a result of the devastating storm. But a spokesperson for the Oklahoma Medical Examiner’s Office says they’re prepared to process 40 additional bodies — half of which are children.