As a tornado tore through parts of Virginia on Sunday night, it led to a terrifying experience for a family in Culpeper.
Lawrence Johnson, his wife and three kids were in a large shed when the tornado swept through.
“I just thought it was a regular lightning storm, and then I heard a big whistle, like a train,” Johnson said. “I looked out the window and I could see the funnel.”
Johnson yelled at his wife and children to get on the floor. Seconds later, the shed was lifted off the ground.
“It picked us up about 20 feet in the air, swung us around once or twice and slammed the whole building on the rooftop,” Johnson said. “It’s hard to explain. It was very scary.”
The shed landed upside down, leaving the family outside completely unprotected as furniture, tree limbs and other debris was flying around. They all ran to Johnson’s father’s house, which was nearby, and took shelter in the basement.
According to the National Weather Service, the tornado was an EF-1, which means it had peak winds around 95 mph.
It carved a path about 100 yards wide and nearly five miles long.
“The tornado touched down along Dunkard Church Road, a third of a mile west of Eggbornsville Road in rural, northwest Culpeper County,” according to the National Weather Service. “Several trees were snapped and uprooted in multiple directions.”
All five family members are recovering from injuries and said they are bruised, battered and traumatized.
“It’s nothing short of a miracle that we’re alive,” said Johnson’s wife, Brandy Walters. “It was destruction. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Walters described the moment the tornado lifted them up into the air as being “the weirdest feeling.”
“It felt like we were floating for a minute, and then we flipped over,” Walters said.
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