Storms of April 2011

The first responders assumed everyone was dead. As they scanned the ruins where Ruby Tuesday had stood minutes before, all that remained was the stone-framed entrance and the back three walls of the kitchen.

How do you picture 340 tornado victims? Does the number make it difficult? Can you connect 340 nightmares? Wendy Ellis can connect four at once. Her son, cousin, mother and grandmother.

As search-and-rescue teams pulled the 78th lifeless body from the rubble of homes and businesses around the tri-state region, meteorologist Tim Troutman was tracking the single, strong EF4 tornado that killed 17 of them.