WOODWARD, Okla. – The television was tuned to forecasters’ dire warnings of an impending storm when Greg Tomlyanobich heard a short burst from a tornado siren blare after midnight Sunday. 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 dozens that swept across the nation’s midsection during the weekend – roared across the ground above, ripping homes from their foundations.

“It scared the hell out of me,” Tomlyanobich said.