Incredible Tuscaloosa tornado expereince shared

http://blog.al.com/wire/2011/05/tuscaloosa_tornado_experience.html
...
Just then my buddy Sean Philips texted me that I should find cover. I was coming up with a clever retort about how paranoid he is being when my ears popped really hard and I heard what sounded like a train outside my window. I had watched enough news to know this meant a tornado.

I jumped into my closet and slammed the door shut. I felt the whole building shaking, so I grabbed the door knob and held it shut with all my strength. Then I heard tearing and ripping noises which had to be my back wall tearing away.

At this point, I wanna point out that if any of these events had occurred slightly differently or in a different order, I would have been buried.

Anyway, the back wall tore away from the building, and the door to my closet began shaking open and I kept pulling it back closed. After a couple seconds of this struggle, the door and I were sucked out of the closet and through the back wall.

I never rose more than a couple feet off the ground, but judging from memories of where things were, I flew about 40 feet total. The winds flung me from the back wall into the chain link fence 10-15 feet behind my apartment with enough force to leave bruises of the chain links in my side. It then flung me back into some piles of rubble where I was then rolled around on the ground for about 15 seconds before it subsided slightly.

I looked up from my prone position and I was lying on tile floor and I could see my neighbor lying on top of her baby trying to shield her. I also heard myself screaming and realized I had been screaming the entire time but hadn't noticed....



Much more at the link. Amazing story.

Thanks for posting.

Even with this first hand account, I can't even imagine the terror.

:scared:

My heart goes out to everyone who went through that and survived, as well as those who did not.

There is a discussion about donation possibilities in this thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1047648

Glad he got the help he needed!

eek

That was amazing

Amazing.