A series of 50 tornadoes ripped through Iowa, Kansas and Oklahoma over the weekend, killing at least one person and injuring more than 20.
The twisters carved deadly paths across the open plains, launching massive amounts of debris into the air and creating a trail of terror as ominous funnel clouds dropped from the sky and super-sized hail pelted vehicles on the roads.
“It was very scary,” Carney, Okla., resident Mark Nettles said.
A massive tornado pulverized homes and killed at least one man in a mobile home park southeast of Oklahoma City. High winds ripped up power lines and tossed tractor trailers off highways like toys, sending their cargo flying.
In Kansas, the hail was so strong it took paint off homes.
“The wind was just unbelievable, how the hail was coming straight sideways,” one Wichita resident said.
At one campground in Milford State Park near Junction City, RVs and their owners were badly battered.
“The wind just came up all of a sudden, and the RV started shaking,” camper David Stille recalled. “I’m thankful that we weren’t hurt more than we were.”
Texas resident Christy Green said she’s thankful she and her son are still alive after being sent airborne last week by a twister.
“I prayed to God, and I said ‘Please, I cannot take another minute. Please just stop it,” Green recalled.
Many more could have been killed by such a deadly army of tornadoes.
“No one got hurt and we’re all safe,” one grateful woman said. “God was with us.”