Updated April 24, 2026 at 4:18 PM CDT
Powerful tornadoes struck north-central Oklahoma Thursday evening, impacting Vance Air Force Base, the Enid area and beyond.
Dramatic video showed a large, violent tornado moving through the base and southeast Enid. Storm trackers report the tornado was on the ground for approximately 40 minutes. The National Weather Service reported the tornado as an EF-4 following a survey of damage.
It's the first tornado of that magnitude since a twister struck Barnsdall two years ago. The last time an EF-4 touched down in Garfield County was April 26, 1991.
Gov. Kevin Stitt toured the tornado damage on Friday afternoon. He said he's thankful everyone survived the storm.
"Usually when we come to a neighborhood like this that's been hit this hard, there's one or two deaths," Stitt said. "Thank the Lord that nobody was killed or seriously injured here. It's just amazing when you see the damage."
Stitt said his prayers are with the people who will have to rebuild their homes and lives. U.S. Sen. James Lankford joined the governor, expressing his support for the Oklahomans who were affected.
"This is not going to be a week of recovery. This is going to be months to years of recovery for this community and for all of these families," he said. "They're going to need friends and loved ones walking alongside them for a long time."
Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management Director Annie Vest said the fact that no one died is "nothing short of certainly a miracle."
"Tornado season is ingrained in Oklahoma's DNA, unfortunately," Vest said. "So we know where our safe places are. We also have made it a national model on the amount of individual and residential safe rooms that we have."
Rick Smith, a meteorologist from the National Weather Service, said winds are estimated to have reached between 170 and 175 miles per hour. The tornado touched down for about nine miles, but moved slowly, Smith said. Its maximum width was about 500 yards.
The Gray Ridge neighborhood suffered heavy damage, with homes flattened. In a situation report Friday morning, Oklahoma Emergency Management had identified 40 homes were damaged or destroyed in Garfield County, with assessments still underway.
Gov. Stitt declared a disaster emergency Friday for Garfield and nearby Kay Counties in the wake of the destruction.
Enid emergency management officials said about 10 people were injured, but no fatalities have been reported. Vance Air Force Base was closed overnight during water and restoration efforts. By Friday morning, officials reported all personnel were accounted for and an assistance area was set up at the base's fitness center.
Witnesses describe shocking tornado
Airman Max Fan saw the tornado forming over Vance as he returned from an off-base church event.
"There was a — it's kind of a funnel-shaped cloud descending towards the ground," Fan said. "And I was like, 'Oh, that's kind of cool.'"
Fan and other base personnel watched the storm develop until it touched down, then headed into the dorms for shelter.
"We're from all parts of the country," said Fan, who is from Los Angeles. "So we've never seen anything like this."
After the storm passed over Vance, it moved east to the Gray Ridge area.
"And as you can tell, it was in full force when it made its turn," said Dave Lamerton, whose son's woodworking business was destroyed.
Lamerton said his son lost all his equipment and will need to totally rebuild.
"We flashed a light in and we looked at it and we said, this is, you know, terrible," he said. "So from that point we just didn't get much sleep last night and waited to get the sun up and went from there."
Classes were canceled Friday at Eisenhower Elementary on base and in nearby Waukomis due to tornado damage in that community.
The American Red Cross has set up an evacuation shelter for those displaced by the storm at the Chisholm Trail Expo Center, 111 W. Purdue Ave.
Karvin Vega is a community disaster program specialist with the Northern Oklahoma Red Cross. He said the shelter is also a hub for donations and volunteer coordination.
"We're getting supplies coming in within the next hour that we're going to take out to the neighborhood," Vega said. "Shovels, gloves, trash bags. Because we just drove through this morning and there's a lot of families out there sifting through their things."
Enid Mayor David Mason praised the work of first responders overnight. He said cleanup was the main priority moving forward.
"The amount of outpour and concern from our citizens has just been remarkable," Mason said during a press conference Friday afternoon. "I don't think there's ever a mayor that wants to stand up here and have to make these comments, but I'm glad that we have the resources that we do, not just in Enid, but throughout Oklahoma."
The National Weather Service issued more than half a dozen tornado warnings in north-central Oklahoma, along with scattered severe thunderstorm warnings in the area. They also issued a rare tornado emergency for the longtrack Enid twister.
Another large tornado touched down near Braman, just south of the Kansas border along Interstate 35. Emergency managers reported damage to barns in the area.
The National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center also received reports of additional tornadoes in Kay and Grant Counties Thursday evening. They were still assessing damage Friday afternoon, though the Kay County tornado was rated as an EF-1.
