The Devastation In Oklahoma

A terrifying time-lapse here. Mark Berman is live-blogging. A reader writes:

What would you do if there was announcement on a typical spring morning that a bomb would go off that afternoon? That’s what happened today in Oklahoma City. This morning, all of the normally frantic TV weather people were full of stern and serious warnings. Today – like yesterday – had all of the signs of being a terrible and destructive weather day. All we could do was wait.

At about 3 p.m., huge, ugly tornadoes rolled in, just as kids were being dismissed from school and parents were gambling with the idea of head to them or hunker down. Fortunately, just a few miles north or south made the difference between sunshine and wrath. I made it to my kids, picking them up while my wife, a teacher, sat in a basement with her students on the other side of town.

Now here I sit in the living room, watching a swath of death and debris on a loop from Moore, Oklahoma. The movie theatre we go to. Smashed homes in a path like a giant’s footprints. Two schools in rubble.

My thought was to email you, to let Dish readers know that in the midst of rhetoric what real chaos and fear looks like. Today started with the cold feeling that this would likely happen, which is worse and more dreadful than anything I can imagine. Hug your families, Dish readers. And keep Oklahoma, deep Red and crazy Oklahoma, in your thoughts.