This article is from "The Weather Channel." They do a great job at educating people and attempting to keep them safe. The survivors in this story followed their instincts. They were right. Their fear served them well.
By Sean Breslin
...Stevenson admitted she began to panic, (click here) stuck in an unfamiliar town with no idea where to go. She left the freeway on Exit 528 and stopped at the first building she saw off the exit – I-20 Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram. The building was under construction for a planned expansion, and there were a few dozen vehicles for sale in the parking lot. In a matter of minutes, many of those cars would be pulverized and sent flying onto I-20.
"I headed toward the dealership thinking it was a gas station. I was so scared and didn't know what to do, but I saw the headlights of the other car that survived the tornado with me," Stevenson told weather.com. "Their headlights were like a beacon and they may have saved my life. I pulled in right behind the other car before wedging myself between the heavy scissor lift and the wall."
Knowing her only chance to survive would be if the car stayed on the ground, Stevenson got as low to the floor of her Honda Civic as she could and stayed on the phone with Zach. As she repeatedly yelled "I love you" into the phone, debris flew through the car and just above her head. The decision to get onto the floor of the vehicle saved her life....
May 2, 2017
By Scott Sistek
As former Lake Stevens resident Benjamin Jurkovich (click here) was deciding where to storm chase last weekend in the Midwest, he played a hunch and decided to head into eastern Texas.
He ended up being front and center to a mile-wide tornado that claimed the lives of five people and caused tremendous damage in Canton, Texas.
As he neared the town, already two relatively weak (by Texas) tornadoes had touched down in the vicinity, but then the major tornado would strike a short time later.
"I began heading southwest out of Canton to intercept," Jurkovich said. "The area I’d been tracking earlier was just to my northwest. A new area had formed to the southwest though, and was heading directly towards me and Canton, Texas."
He said he drove north to get out of that cell's way and then assessed the situation. It was a good decision....
