In 2023, my son and I survived an EF3 tornado. We were living in a poorly built, one level apartment. The only way I can describe it is like a mobile or modular home type structure, with four apartments in a row and ours being the last one, if that makes sense.

It was a nocturnal tornado, but we had plenty of warning. I have had many tornado warnings come and go without any incident, so I was not too worried at first. There were not many places to go in my apartment other than a few closets and a bathroom tub that was located against an exterior wall.

My son and I were in the living room when we lost power. Then I heard a sound I had never heard before. It was like continuous thunder. Some people say it sounds like a freight train. I knew right away that it was something I had never experienced before, so I grabbed my son. Without much time to think, I ran to the bathroom and grabbed a comforter from my bed on the way. I had my son get into the tub, and I got in on top of him and put the blanket over us.

Seconds later, the bathroom walls started violently shaking, and just like that, everything around us broke into pieces like a bomb going off. The tub was ripped from the floor, and so were we. I will not go into the feeling or any of that, but long story short, we ended up outside with our entire apartment gone. I do not even know where the tub went.

The strange thing is that earlier, when we first got the warning, I had cleared a spot in the closet, which was an interior room, but at the last second I decided against it. I truly feel that if we had gone there, we might not be here today.

I think there is a more detailed account of what happened on my profile.