ORLEANS, Ind. (WDRB) — From what everyone is saying in Orleans, the tornado came barreling from the southwest — and right in its bullseye was the home of Matthew Patenaude and his wife.
Miraculously, the couple survived the storm by taking shelter in a closet. While the front door of their home remains intact, much of the rest of the house has been reduced to splintered wood and scattered debris.
“This ceiling joist broke, and a whole piece of wood came down,” Patenaude said. “Our bed was right here.”
Had they stayed in bed that morning, the outcome could have been tragically different.
“I have never been in a building when a tornado hit,” Patenaude admitted, still processing the destruction.
The National Weather Service confirmed the tornado in northern Orange County and said it was at least an EF1. The tornado had an estimated 95 MPH winds.
Patenaude and his wife began working on the house about a year and a half ago, turning what had been an empty shell into their home. Now, all that labor has been erased in mere minutes.
“By the time the actual tornado sirens hit, it just sounded like it wasn’t safe to leave the house,” he said. “So we hunkered down in the closet.”
Remarkably, the closet is likely the only part of the house that didn’t sustain significant damage.
A few blocks away, Samantha Hess experienced a similar sense of helplessness.
“All of a sudden, the rain came, and it was three big swirls of rain,” she said. “It was like out of a movie — you could just see dust and wind and debris going everywhere.”
Hess and her family also took refuge in a closet. She was the last to make it to safety.
“That transformer blew, and you could see sparks and you could see the power lines like snakes,” she said. “We just put our heads down and waited, and then it was over.”
It was a minute of pure terror, she said. Though her house escaped major damage, the trampoline in their backyard nearly took off.
Fortunately, there have been no reports of serious injuries, but the cleanup process has begun a task that Hess, a teacher, never anticipated would be part of her spring break.
“It was not how I planned to spend my spring break,” she said.
Still, she now has an unforgettable weather lesson to share with her students.
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