BY DAN HILDEBRAN
A family in Western Union County had a close call with a small tornado as Hurricane Debby closed in on Florida’s Big Bend.
Zayden Pressley, an eighth grader at First Christian Academy in High Springs, said he was at first confused by the alert he received on his cell phone.
“It says tornado. It doesn’t say hurricane,” Zayden recalled telling his parents about the alert he received around 7:45 p.m. Sunday. Two minutes later, Zayden’s parents, Darryl and Layne, received similar alerts on their phones.
Layne said that after the second warning, she wanted to check on her parents, who were temporarily staying in a camper in the backyard, but it was too late.
“All of the sudden, the wind picked up, and things started flying around outside and we just kind of looked at each other,” remembered Layne.
In a panic, Zayden and Layne darted under a staircase while Darryl ran for a bathroom.
While in their respective safe places, the family of three heard debris striking the house and the freight-train sound they had heard tornado victims describe.
Five to ten seconds later, it was over.
When the family ventured outside, they discovered that Layne’s parents were fine and had not realized what had happened.
A tree in the front yard was blown over, crushing the swing that previously hung from it.
The attached garage suffered roof damage, a solar panel was missing, and a privacy fence was blown away, revealing a neighbor’s overturned pontoon boat and camper. The Pressley’s aluminum shed in the backyard temporarily went missing but was discovered later about a block away.
The family found a two-by-four that the wind had driven into a bonus room in the garage.
The Pressleys said they feel fortunate to have escaped with only minor property damage.
They credit the alerts they received on their cell phones for warning them of the danger.
Darryl said the family had also received a cell phone alert around 15 minutes before the twister struck, so the three had gotten a trio of alerts within 15 minutes of the incident.
Zayden said he had gotten a little weary of the warnings.
“A lot of times they always say stuff’s going to happen, but then it never really does, Zayden said, “so I was just like, oh, it’s probably overreacting, and it’s just a small little—what we normally would get.”
The eighth grader said that he briefly thought about ignoring the alert.
He added that he will never do that again.
