You Are The Miracle!: How Being Hit By A Truck ...

The South Carolina Highway Patrol had previously confirmed a pedestrian struck in the area on Thursday but didn't provide details on the victim. The agency, however, did say that the tragic accident happened on private property.

You Are The Miracle!: How being hit by a truck ...

I grew up both a little frightened and excited by storms and tornadoes. My mamaw and great grandmother were both horrified of storms, probably an undiagnosed case of lilapsophobia or astraphobia. For me, the sound of the nuclear plant sirens being used as tornado sirens was the scariest. Anyway, I began to study and learn as much about severe weather as I could. In the 8th grade, a tornado hit our small town and killed one man. I sat by a wall in my classroom that was mostly glass windows and there was some communication between classrooms that our county was under warning, but we never went into the hallway. I actually stopped the lesson and told the teacher that the sky was turning an ugly, almost evil, green color. My teacher said, "class, I don't think we are in Kansas anymore." It touched down less than a mile from us.

My mind was racing with a million thoughts, regrets, prayers, etc., but I still noticed the pressure change and could feel air from under the door as it blew in towards me, then sucked back out of the room. I heard things slamming my house, then the sheetrock overhead fell down and it sounded like my roof lifted and came back down. I heard the sound of nails being pulled out of wood, glass breaking, and then the scariest sound I've ever heard, and pray that I never hear again. It was a groan. A moaning. And I can only describe it as evil. It caused me to shake head to toe, and that shaking continued on from April 12 until the day I met my girlfriend in early August.

He opened his arms and I hugged that man so hard he tapped my shoulder because I was squeezing him. We were blessed that day because aside from a few injuries, no fatalities were reported from my town. As for my shaking, it continued, along with occasional nightmares, until that following August until my I met my girlfriend. She noticed the shaking and understood why it was happening. But like a miracle, she took it away from me. Now the only time I shake is because I still get butterflies everytime I see her come through the door. Be safe folks. Be weather aware. And never judge a man in a pink bathrobe.

I had gone to the local Little Caesar Pizza place at the halftime of the Dallas Cowboy Philadelphia Eagle game tp get a pizza for the game. When I got to the Little Caesars they had run out of pizzas. So I had to wait. While I was waiting the Tornado hit the shopping Center and sucked me out of the building. I was literally standing inside the Tornado. I found a support column to hold on to at first. Then it spun me off the column and onto a truck that was parked in front of the Little Caesars. I tried holding on to the hood of the truck but there was nothing to hold on to. I ended up on the ground holding on to the rim of the left front tire until it stopped. It was dead still and all the lights were off because power had been knocked out. People were screaming and cars alarms were going off all over the place. It was like a war zone.

I was out on the back lot, what we call the backing pad, when it began to storm. So I told everybody as usual to take shelter until the lightning stopped. Some people went to their cars; some went inside. It was just a light rain and the lightning was in a distance so I stayed in my pickup truck parked next to a fence with a large tree in front of me and a metal carport to the left of me. Directly behind me, sitting perpendicularly to my pickup truck, was a semi-truck. The rain was light. My truck was running and I had the windshield wipers on. I looked out the driver's side window and noticed it was getting a little windy; some of our camping chairs blew over.

I looked out my right windshield and noticed the vines growing along the fence were starting to blow around kind of funny. A moment later, just like that, all around me was wind and it got real dark. The wind was going in a way that I've never seen before. Then a section of a roof blew over me and just shredded apart mid-air. That's when the back windshield on my pickup truck shattered, throwing glass all over me.

The tree sitting directly in front of me, which was relatively large, blew over like it was nothing. Also part of the fence blew over top of the hood of my pickup. I crouched down real low in the driver's seat and just prayed. I held onto the steering wheel for dear life. I could feel the back of the truck lifting. I could still see out the front windshield and I could see power lines exploding out in front of me. The visibility was really poor at this point but I could still see the flashes. It lasted for about 45 seconds but it seemed like a lifetime.

I don't know how long it took me to calm down and regain my senses but I finally went back to record a video walkthrough of the damage. Then I went back to my pickup truck which was still running and started to pick up some of the debris and nails so I could drive out of there. I've been through a couple traumatic incidents in my life as a veteran of the Gulf War. This was, hands down, one of those most traumatic and terrifying moments of my life. I think the real reason why I was so terrified because I had no training, no warning, and no defense against whatever was coming. The tornado was classified two days later as an EF-1 tornado. It had a base of about 75 to a hundred yards across.

I wiped the blood from my eyes and saw a 1965 Pontiac Catalina next to me. My first thought was why is that car in the bathroom with me. Then it hit me that I was some 80 ft from where the bathroom once stood and was out in the parking lot in front of the shop. I pushed and clawed my way out of the rubble, shocked angry and thankful to God that I was alive. I survived bruised from head to toe with a broken foot and some lacerations. I went back out to the shop the next day and just cried seeing where I had crawled out from the broken pieces of the toilet under where I laid. Turns out the toilet had just been set on the wax ring and caulked to the floor, not one bolt in the slab. In retrospect, that toilet not being secured is probably what saved me as I think I was traveling with the debris in the twister. not sitting still being struck by the debris field.

I was living in Lancing TN on a farm in a mobile home. The weather channel was calling for some rough weather so my mum, dad, brother and I went to my aunt and uncle's house not far from us because they had a basement and phoned us asking us to come over just in case. I remember being in the living room with several family members, aunts and cousins. My cousin said her friend's house was just hit..I remember it getting very dark really quickly. My nana, who unfortunately would be in another massive tornado in Mossy Grove, TN, several years later, was terrified of storms. My dad and my uncles yelled from the front porch to get into the basement because the tornado was "coming over the mountain."

I remember my adrenaline even as a child being just through the roof. We started the journey to the basement and upon getting down the stairs, saw the basement was completely flooded except for one small spot in the far corner that was on a hill. We had to basically swim to safety. Except I couldn't swim so my mum lifted me up and carried me. We were all piled into this corner of the basement just freaking out while my Nana was praying in a language I didn't understand. There was one small dusty window right across from us ground level and I saw the tornado almost as if it were framed like a picture coming towards us. You could see the roof of the lady down the street just spinning in the tornado and I really thought we would all die. My dad and uncles were still on the front porch watching it like the cowboys they were, which I would never advise. This was the 90s before camera phones were a thing. The tornado tracked closer and the praying got louder. I expected to hear a train like sound but it sounded more like a fighter jet that was very angry. Somehow, some way it "jumped" our house and continued on for a short time behind us. We thought we were in the clear but the night had just begun.

I think it was pure fear that caused my uncle to have a heart attack on the porch that day. We took off to the hospital while warnings were still being handed out like parking tickets. That was the scariest drive ever. I remember looking out the window expecting to see another tornado any minute. Thankfully we made it safely and spent part of the night at the hospital. My uncle was there for days but he was released and is still going strong today.

Fast forward to November 11 2002, Mossy Grove, TN. The skies were so blue all day but I had a pit in my stomach when I seen the black clouds off in the distance. Poor Nana was at church that night along with a bunch of other family and my cousin Linda got up with her newborn to get a drink from the water fountain near the entrance. She looked up and saw the huge tornado coming across the parking lot. She ran and dove into the pews while the tornado moved and twisted the church off its foundation. Most of the congregation dove to the corner. That corner of the church was still there after it was over. We lost lives that night and in such a small county we felt every single loss, especially the small baby who didn't even get to start her life. Her papa was trying to rush her to safety from the mobile home they were in. Ironically, their mobile home wasn't touched but their truck was and both of them perished together. That town still bares the scars and the fear. All of us do really. I was once told we couldn't be hit by tornadoes because of the mountains. What a foolish thing to say, especially since Mossy Grove almost got hit again later but the skies showed mercy that day and settled down almost as if it took pity on us and our non-Walmart or McDonalds town. Lightening can and it will strike twice, three, four times in the same spot. The sad thing is most of us still aren't really prepared for another one. I'm working on a plan. That is the best thing to have here in Dixie Alley because the storms are getting worse. The April outbreak was a nightmare and I got stuck in a Food City that was about to close while there was another tornado warning for where I was. I was so froze in fear so my father drove to me just to let me follow him home. His truck was struck by lightening on his way. Anyway, stay prepared people and most importantly stay informed. I listen to the Weather Channel and am grateful. My 6 year old son is a meteorologist in the making. He loves weather as I do and can tell you how any storm happens, hurricanes.. tornados..floods..smart little feller he is. 041b061a72