The images circulating are devastating. In one you can see a two-story house, with a chimney, garage and stone walls, standing on the open field. In the other, taken from the same spot after the tornado, there is absolutely nothing left: just dark ground and scattered debris.

On April 23, a violent tornado touched down in northern Oklahoma and cut across the city of Enid, directly hitting Vance Air Force Base and the surrounding neighborhoods. The National Weather Service issued a rare “tornado emergency” for 28,569 people, 13 schools and 4 hospitals in the exposure area.

The Greyridge neighborhood, southeast of Enid, was one of the hardest hit. Neighbors reported multiple destroyed homes, trees ripped from the ground and entire streets left unrecognizable. Police closed sections of U.S. 81 while emergency crews worked in the dark with power lines down.

Garfield County activated a mass casualty incident. Search and rescue teams deployed house by house, in some spots where there are no houses left, just the foundations. Witnesses described twin tornadoes on the field and golf-ball-sized hail.