A incredible survival story from Parkersburg

[MatthewCarman]

I work at a Pizza Ranch in Newton and I heard a true story from the owner about the Pizza Ranch that was hit by the Parkersburg EF5 while I was eating dinner with Dennis Sherrod.

There was about 16 employees at the Pizza Ranch when it was hit by the monster EF5. They heard the tornado coming and ran for the womens bathroom. The next thing they know the tornado is ontop of the building. They see the wall to the west (I think) in the womens bathroom moving constantly and fear it is about to give way and come down ontop of them. They all put thier hands up against the wall to try and hold it in place. Soon the noise is over and the tornado has passed. The wall is still standing and the 16 employees survived. They looked behind them to see the wall behind them was gone and so was everything else. Nothing was left of the building but rubble. All that was left was that wall and those 16 employees. It is a miracle they survived and the lord was surely watching over them when that tornado hit.

I thought that survival story was incredible and reminds us just how dangerous a EF5 tornado realy is.

 

[Joel Wright]

Wow, that'd be an incredible experience.

Were some of the 16 people customers? 16 employees sound like an awful lot with no customers lol.

 

[Ryan Wichman]

That is insane!

Not to make light of the story...but those people could say they fought an EF-5 tornado and won!

 

[Jerry Prsha]

I've got a different version of the story: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200880526009&template=printart

It seems that someone is exaggerating.... Still an incredible survival story with or without a deity involved...

 

[Dennis Sherrod]

It is a truly amazing story of survival for the 16 people involved who were gathered together. For the restaurant to be so totally destroyed and no one sustained any major injuries is truly a great survival story. I remember seeing a picture in the news somewhere that showed the restaurant and it was almost completely flattened.