Twisted: A Second Night of Monster Midwest Tornadoes Brings Devastation to Oklahoma (Updated)

It is, of course, tornado season, and, particularly in the Midwest, reports of twisters wreaking havoc as they whirl their way through farmland and towns alike are to be expected. I'm a bit of a tornado geek myself — simultaneously fascinated and fearful of them. One of my recurring stress dreams has to do with being aware that a tornado is fast approaching and trying to warn others and seek appropriate shelter. "Twister" is among at least my Top 10 — if not Top 5 — favorite movies.

So it was that I stumbled across the Twitter account and then YouTube channel of Ryan Hall sometime last year and have made it a point to watch and follow along whenever there are reports of tornado outbreaks, as there have been the past two days, largely in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Iowa. (Even Wisconsin garnered some warnings Saturday night, and the storms continued up into Canada, albeit somewhat toothless at that point.)

Hall bills himself as "a professional weather analyst, storm chaser, and a dad!" When tornadoes abound, Hall live streams and provides valuable insights and updates regarding developing storms and the locations and paths of twisters on the ground via a combination of storm-tracking technology and storm chasers in the field (including several of his family members). Through the "Ryan Hall, Y'all" channel, they also raise donations dedicated to assisting storm victims. (Per the latest tally, they raised over $150,000 on Friday and Saturday.) His is a calm, informative, helpful voice, which is something this anxious radar/storm-obsessed author genuinely appreciates.

Both Friday and Saturday evening saw severe weather bubbling up from Texas and stretching north/northeast in a long chain of destructive storms. Friday's tornadoes largely impacted Nebraska and Iowa and caused significant damage. While initially no fatalities were reported from Friday's storms, sadly, RedState has been informed that one of those injured Friday has since passed away from his injuries.

I spent a good chunk of both evenings watching Hall's livestream and following along with storm chasers on Twitter. I had some added anxiety Saturday as portions of the storms headed into west-central Missouri and appeared to be aiming for where my daughter was. (She's learned by now to put up with her mother's "Keep an eye on radar, there's some ugly stuff heading your way" text warnings.)

Saturday night's storms were focused primarily on Oklahoma. Towns in the path of the system were subject to multiple thunderstorm and tornado warnings and buffeted repeatedly with high winds, hail, and rain. Large tornadoes struck throughout the region, and I don't mean to minimize any of the destruction visited upon other towns, but Sulphur, Oklahoma, a town of roughly 5,000, in the south-central part of the state, was hit particularly hard.

KOCO 5's Andy Weber has been in Sulphur on Sunday morning, finding several areas of devastation. Several buildings have been significantly damaged or totally leveled, and multiple vehicles have been damaged, impaled by debris or overturned.
Search and rescue crews are still at work assessing the damage. Authorities have not said how many people were injured or if anyone died in Sulphur because of the tornado and severe storms.
At least one person has been confirmed dead in Holdenville because of the storm damage.

On X/Twitter, storm chaser Brandon Clement shared drone footage of Sulphur taken on Sunday morning, which shows the magnitude of the destruction there. It's horrific.

#tornado #Damage #Sulphur #okwx #Oklahoma pic.twitter.com/E7vcMJ9snR
— WxChasing- Brandon Clement (@bclemms) April 28, 2024

There are multiple images/videos from the area showing the heartbreaking devastation.

More damage in Sulphur, OK from the tornadoes. There are no words that come close to describing what it was like after the tornado came through. #sulphurok #sulphurtornado #tornado #oklahoma #okwx pic.twitter.com/Fx6tombJYo
— Garrett Tarver (@tarver_garrett) April 28, 2024

Sulphur, OK tornado damage from last night per @AndyWKOCO Exhibit A as to why we ask you to seek study shelter and not be in a vehicle in a tornado. pic.twitter.com/0gqZIAKqCg
— Michael Armstrong (@KOCOMichael) April 28, 2024

🌪️ aftermath 📸 from @andywebertv

Location Sulphur, OK pic.twitter.com/Wuos95H37Y
— Tim Ballisty (@IrishEagle) April 28, 2024

Ya’ll take a minute and say a prayer for southern and eastern Oklahoma. They got the crap kicked out of them last night. Sulphur got hit with 3 tornadoes. The pic is from a tornado near Ardmore. pic.twitter.com/734f0dFY0I
— Saddletramp69 (@JeffreyMHough1) April 28, 2024

Per the AP, at least two people were killed by Saturday's tornadoes in Oklahoma.

HOLDENVILLE, Okla. (AP) — At least two people, including a child, died in tornadoes that swept through Oklahoma, authorities said Sunday as emergency crews assessed the extensive damage to homes and businesses from the high winds, hail and flooding.
...
In Oklahoma, a tornado ripped through Holdenville, a town of about 5,000 people, late Saturday, killing two people, and injuring four others, Hughes County Emergency Medical Services said in a statement Sunday. Holdenville is roughly 80 miles (128.75 kilometers) from Oklahoma City.

Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt (R) has declared a state of emergency and issued a statement regarding the situation:

My prayers are with those who lost loved ones as tornadoes ripped through Oklahoma last night. Thank you to Oklahoma Emergency Management and those who have worked through the night to keep Oklahomans safe and have worked to clear debris and assess damage.

There is another storm system gearing up in the region for Sunday but as of right now, that one appears to pose less of a threat than those of Friday and Saturday. Keep those affected in your prayers if you would.

Thankfully, morning convection has done a number on the atmosphere out here in the deep south, leading to a less concerning tornado threat later today.

Severe weather is still possible, but this no longer looks like something that will require a live stream from us.

Instead,… pic.twitter.com/VdD3RNwSTn
— Ryan Hall, Y’all (@ryanhallyall) April 28, 2024

Update - The fatality total for Oklahoma following Saturday's storms, unfortunately, has been updated to four.

Here is the current stats from the Tornado Outbreak Sequence of April 25–28, 2024.

Last updated at 10:40 AM EDT on April 29, 2024.#wxtwitter #okwx #newx #iawx #txwx #kswx #mowx

Links to all the National Weather Service damage surveys are on Ryan Hall Y’alls discord server. pic.twitter.com/PpiDeEvciO
— Elijah Joyce Weather (@ElijahWeather) April 29, 2024

Editor's Note: This article was edited post-publication to reflect that one of those injured in Friday's storms in Iowa has since succumbed to his injuries and to reflect the updated fatality total for Saturday's storms in Oklahoma.