The tornado had been raging for several hours,before people were moved to safety.
(Begin: The people...)
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On April 24, 2019, I was in my shop at 6964 Coyote Run, Bryan, TX, working on a Volkswagon engine. It had been raining hard most of the afternoon. At approximately 4:30 pm the rain stopped and there was an eerie silence followed by the patter of what sounded like hail on the metal roof of the shop. Then the wind started howling. followed by a large crashing noise on the back wall of the shop. I looked up and saw the 16 ft garage door bowing inward from the wind. I thought, “oh no, I hope it’s not a tornado.” The door breathed back out. I sighed a breath of relief hoping the twister had skipped over the shop. That relief was short lived as in the next few seconds I heard the train sound, which actually sounded like a thrashing machine metal being chewed up, indescribable actually. Then the entire back wall of the shop began to bow in.
All I could think of was get to a low spot. There was none. My next thought was get to an interior hall so I ran to the bathroom, laid down on the floor and grabbed the toilet knowing it was bolted to the ground. In the next 2-5 seconds, I saw the corner of the shop and bathroom lift up and disappear over me. Then I was hit with a force I can’t describe and felt myself being lifted into the air traveling backwards at what seemed like 100 mph. I was being hit from all directions by objects and beams from the building. A thousand thoughts went through my mind and I just knew I was dead. I prayed for God to save me then I was slammed back onto the ground.
I realized I was alive and did not think I was hurt to badly. Then the debris started falling out of the sky. I thought, oh great, I survived being sucked up into the air in a tornado, now I’m gonna be crushed to death! As the debris fell onto me, I fought and pushed and shoved anything that landed on me trying to get whatever landed on me off. Then as fast as it started it was over. No noise. I was bleeding and it felt like my ankle was broken but I was alive. I couldn’t breathe because I was being crushed. I pushed one more time and was able to create enough space to breathe. I hollered for someone to get the building off of me but no one answered.
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.