Storms roar past homes

Likely tornado damages property, trees as residents escape injury on Wadmalaw

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Residents on Maybank Highway were picking up the pieces this morning after Sunday's tornado Watch »

Mic Smith
The Post and Courier

The St. John's Fire Department and local residents work to clear an oak tree from Maybank Highway on Wadmalaw Island after a possible tornado passed through Sunday.

Mic Smith
The Post and Courier

Mary Alice Priest inspects the damage to her son's garage Sunday on Wadmalaw Island after a possible tornado passed over. Priest, four other adults, two children and a dog crowded into the home's bathtub. 'I said a prayer and was holding a baby ... got all the way though the Lord's Prayer,' Priest said.

WADMALAW ISLAND — The TV went out. The sky became ominous. And somewhere, behind the trees, the roar like a freight train came closer and closer to Beth Matthews' Maybank Highway home.

The four adults and two children celebrating Mother's Day did what you're supposed to when you're in the path of a tornado: They ducked for cover inside the shower.

It didn't matter that Matthews' husband was using it at the time.

'We told him, ‘Cover up, we're coming in,' ' Matthews said.

The adults, the children and a 70-pound Labrador retriever all huddled inside the shower until the 30 seconds of sheer terror were over.

Mary Alice Priest, Matthews' mother-in-law, said her ears were popping something fierce. She had grabbed the two toddlers and held them tightly, trying to keep them calm as the shower's warm water ran down her back.

'I did get all the way through the Lord's Prayer from beginning to end,' Priest said.

When it was over, they were shocked by the damage outside. Trees and branches were ripped apart. The new garden Matthews' husband spent all day working on — hence, the need for the shower — was covered with limbs.

It was much the same down Maybank Highway and Bears Bluff Road, where firefighters and neighbors used chain saws to cut the large limbs that blocked the road.

The storm struck about 6:30 p.m., a half-hour after residents first reported a tornado touching down near Adams Run. No one was hurt, and while some houses were damaged, none were thought to be destroyed.

It was a frightening experience all the same.

'We thought we were going to die,' said 27-year-old Joe Fike.

Fike had been watching the Lakers game on television and was upset when the news pre-empted the game to report that a tornado was in the Hollywood area.

'All of a sudden, it started,' Fike said. 'We saw the trees shake. It sounded like a freight train. We knew it was go time.'

Fike, his parents and his 91-year-old grandmother huddled beneath a pool table when they heard the sound.

They all escaped unscathed but they couldn't say the same for Fike's father's year-old truck. A large tree landed on top of it.

In a horrible irony, the storm struck on Mother's Day. On the same day in 1998, a tornado struck Sangaree, killing an elderly woman, destroying 17 homes, damaging 47 homes and slightly damaging 143 others.

The storm front that struck here Sunday cut a deadly swath across the Plains and the South, killing 22 people in three states and leaving stunned tornado survivors picking through the little that was left of their communities.

At least 15 people died in southwestern Missouri.

In the fading mining town of Picher, Okla., at least six people were killed, and at least one person died in storms in Georgia.

Six people received minor injuries and thousands were without power Sunday when high winds hit eastern North Carolina communities. Winds destroyed 10 to 20 structures in the Belgrade and Maysville communities.

President Bush has talked with governors to express his condolences for the lives lost and to discuss needs for recovery, according to the White House.

'The federal government will be moving hard to help,' Bush said.

In the Lowcountry, the afternoon thunderstorm cells followed a morning storm that spawned tornado warnings south and west of the Charleston area and dropped an inch to nearly 4 inches of rain locally. Those storms lost some strength as they neared the coast.

But the afternoon was different.

'A front sweeping through and a sea breeze interacted with each other,' said meteorologist Douglas Berry of the National Weather Service in Charleston.

The weather service office will inspect Johns Island damage today to determine if was caused by a tornado or winds.

But, Berry said, 'It had a strong signature on radar to indicate it was a tornado.'

Today will be totally different, Berry said: sunny and a bit cooler. But winds will be strong.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

Staff Writer Bo Petersen contributed to this report.

Reach Andy Paras at 745-5891 or aparas@postandcourier.com.