VIDEO: Storms pummel central U.S.; tornadoes kill at least 2

Firefighters work the site of the damage after a tornado ripped through Prairie Lake Estates trailer home park, just north of Chetek, Wis., on Tuesday, May 16, 2017.
Firefighters work the site of the damage after a tornado ripped through Prairie Lake Estates trailer home park, just north of Chetek, Wis., on Tuesday, May 16, 2017.

ELK CITY, Okla. — Storms whipped through a wide swath of the nation's midsection, giving rise to tornadoes that flattened a Wisconsin mobile home park and an Oklahoma subdivision and killing at least two people and injuring dozens of others.

The storms hit Wisconsin late Tuesday afternoon and into the evening, leveling the Prairie Lake Estate Mobile Park near Chetek, which is about 110 miles northeast of Minneapolis.

Mark Tyson said he and his wife Robin were huddled behind a living room chair as the storm hit Tuesday evening when an entire wall of their mobile home suddenly came flying at them.

"I thought we were done," said Tyson. Shards of glass were flying at them like bullets, Tyson told the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram.

"When your house comes apart like that, there's no place to go. I thought this is it."

A 46-year-old man was killed at the trailer park and at least 25 other people were injured, according to the Barron County sheriff's office. Aerial footage showed a wide path of leveled mobile homes and debris.

Several poultry barns at a turkey processing plant across the street were badly damaged, and turkeys could be seen wandering in the debris.

Meteorologists said eight suspected tornadoes are believed to have touched down in western Oklahoma, killing a man and destroying at least 40 homes.

National Weather Service meteorologist Rick Smith said two supercells formed in the Texas Panhandle on Tuesday and then moved into Oklahoma. He said the most destructive tornado appears to have remained on the ground for 5 to 10 miles near Elk City, which is about 110 miles west of Oklahoma City.

Danny Ringer, the Elk City Fire Department chaplain, said that tornado killed 53-year-old Bo Mikles. Authorities said it appears he was fleeing his home when his vehicle was thrown several hundred feet.

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