WOODWARD, Okla. (AP) — The television was on and tuned to forecasters' dire warnings of an impending storm when Greg Tomlyanobich heard a short burst from a tornado siren blare after midnight. Then silence. Then rumbling.
The 52-year-old quickly grabbed his wife and grandson, hurrying them into the emergency cellar as debris whirled around their heads at their mobile home park in northwest Oklahoma. They huddled inside with about 20 other people before the tornado — among more than 100 reported to have swept across the nation's midsection during the weekend — roared across the ground above, ripping homes from their foundations.
The storm killed five people and injured more than two dozen in and around Woodward, a town about 140 miles northwest of Oklahoma City, but it was the only tornado that caused fatalities. Many of the touchdowns raked harmlessly across isolated stretches of rural Kansas, and though communities in Iowa and Kansas were hit, residents and officials credited days of urgent warnings from forecasters for saving lives.
When Tomlyanobich emerged from the underground shelter after the storm had subsided, he saw a scattered trail of destruction: home insulation, siding and splintered wood where homes once stood; trees stripped of leaves, clothing and metal precariously hanging from limbs.
The storms were part of an exceptionally strong system that the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., which specializes in tornado forecasting, had warned about for days. The center took the unusual step of warning people more than 24 hours in advance of a possible "high-end, life-threatening event."
Woodward suffered the worst of the destruction from the storms, which also struck in Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska. Bloodied survivors in the 12,000-resident town emerged to find flipped cars, smashed trailers and mangled power lines. Streets were left dotted with mangled vehicles, toppled power lines and leveled buildings.
"The guy had blood coming down his face," Logan said. "It was scary, because I knew it was after midnight and a lot of people were in bed."
Authorities said a signal tower for Woodward's tornado sirens was struck by lightning and hit by a tornado early Sunday morning. Police Chief Harvey Rutherford said the tower that was supposed to send a repeating signal to the town's tornado siren system was knocked out.
Considering the tornado struck at night and the sirens were damaged, it's remarkable that there wasn't a greater loss of life, Rutherford said. "We had the hand of God take care of us," he said.
In the tiny western Iowa town of Thurman, piles of toppled trees lined the streets in front of homes where missing walls and roofs exposed soaked living rooms. Longtime resident Ted Stafford recalled feeling his home shake, then hearing three windows shatter as the storm hit. He was amazed that no one in town was seriously injured.
"We're all OK, fortunately. Nobody's hurt. We can fuel this recovery with beans and coffee," the 54-year-old said while standing on the broken concrete of what had been his home's new basement foundation.
A reported tornado in Wichita damaged McConnell Air Force Base and the Spirit AeroSystems and Boeing plants late Saturday. A mobile home park was heavily damaged in the city, and Wichita's surrounding county was declared a disaster area with preliminary estimates suggesting damages that could be as high as $283 million.
In an interview with CNN, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback acknowledged that the damage could have been far worse, noting that residents appeared to have heeded warnings to get to safety. "God was merciful," he said.
Yvonne Tucker rushed to a shelter with about 60 of her neighbors at Pinaire Mobile Home Park in Wichita. She said people were crying and screaming, and the shelter's lights went out when the twister hit. When they came back outside, they found several homes destroyed, including Tucker's.
"I didn't think it was that bad until I walked down my street and everything is gone," said Tucker, 49. "I don't know what to do. I don't know where to go. I've seen it on TV, but when it happens to you it is unreal.
"I just feel lost."
A hospital in Creston, about 75 miles southwest of Des Moines, suffered roof damage and had some of its windows blown out by the storm, but patients and staff were not hurt. Medical center officials were calling other area hospitals to help.
Kristin Dean, who was also among the Wichita mobile home residents taking shelter from the storm, said she was shaking as she was being pushed from home in her wheelchair. She was able to grab a bag of her possessions before going into the shelter and that was all she had left. Her home was gone.
"It got still," the 37-year-old woman, who is in a wheelchair after hurting her leg a month ago, recalled. "Then we heard a wham, things flying. Everybody screamed, huddling together.
"It is devastating, but you know, we are alive."
Hegeman reported from Wichita, Kan. Associated Press reporters Grant Schulte in Thurman, Iowa; Rochelle Hines in Oklahoma City; Timberly Ross in Omaha, Neb.; David Pitt in Osceola, Iowa; and Heather Hollingsworth in Kansas City, Mo. contributed to this report.
