A powerful tornado has crippled the city of Nappanee, just twenty miles southeast of South Bend, and brings us the story of small miracles in this huge disaster.
Hours after the storm hit in Nappanee, they are slowly picking up the pieces, but many are still in disbelief about how much damage was actually left behind.
Devastating to say the least, a powerful tornado packing winds of 165 miles per hour ripped through the small town of Nappanee completely destroying at least a hundred homes and businesses, damaging at least 200 others.
"I could see it off in the Southwest sky, it was like a freight train rolling, it was something like I've never experienced," says Steve Johnson, a resident.
A nearby neighbor, Gene Robinson, recalls the scary moment he and his wife spent together in the basement.
"I heard what sounded like a freight train coming right through the yard, I went to the basement, she couldn't believe I was coming down, I grabbed her, put her against the wall, and held here there, she said 'what are we gonna do?' I said, well it's over now, it just got calm that quick," says Robinson.
For many, although they heard the storm around 10:30 at night, they couldn't really see the true extent of the damage until the the next morning. The Pletcher family's garage door was flattened by the storm, the couple's car buried underneath their home, but inside, coffee cups remain in place on the kitchen table as if nothing had ever happened, still there's no denying it did.
"My wife was crying, we saved for 20 years to move out here a year ago in June, and we weren't really expecting this," says John Pletcher.
A state of emergency has been declared, people in the city are asked to stay indoors, all businesses to stay closed, many have no choice. As for the people of Nappanee, police say only five were slightly injured.
"As long as everyone's ok, we can rebuild the house and you know, we'll get by, we got a lot of people calling us to come over hep and you know that's overwhelming," says Mark Heeter.
"There were cops everywhere, I mean it was just like the movies, it was the movies, here, real," says Brady Klotz.
Although everyone here is still in disbelief over all the damage done to their cars, their homes, their livelihood, they all kept emphasizing how glad they were that the injuries were only minor.
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