ANTLERS, Okla. (KTEN) — A tornado destroyed hundreds of homes and lives were changed forever in just minutes in Antlers, Oklahoma on April 12, 1945.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt died on that date, stunning the nation.

Just a few hours later, a tornado measured at half-a-mile wide tore through Antlers.

More than half of the town's homes and local churches were now left as debris, with 68 people reported killed and 343 others injured.

"I'm really honored to be the caretaker of these photographs," said City Manager Mike Taylor, as he showed us the remarkable images. "You see like this old lady here... all the pain that it brought... the schools were used as morgues and makeshift hospitals, because everything was so full, and everything was so damaged."

The Fujita scale was not established until 1971, but the Antlers tornado was retro-classified as an F5, the most powerful on the scale.