Storm Rips Through Elkins
By: KNWA News
Updated: January 29, 2013
Severe storms tore through the small town of Elkins on Tuesday afternoon.
Police say wind tore through trees and rooftops on the west side of town around 3 p.m.
Johnathan Reynolds lives right in the storm's path, and actually looked out his window as his neighbor's roof peeled away.
"After that I didn't think anything else, I just grabbed my wife and kids and put them in the bathroom," he says. "It felt like the walls were shaking almost. It was crazy."
The storm tore through the dentist's office, ripping the roof off and throwing the debris into the fourplex next door.
"It's just smashed all into their building, their cars, the windows are smashed out," says Don Myers, who lives a few doors down from Reynolds. "That huge oak tree was probably about a 200-year-old oak tree, and it's gone... It's gone."
But despite wreckage all around it, the building the men live in didn't see a bit of damage.
"It's crazy how something can be literally five feet away and everything on this side is great and that side is not," he says.
Myers is counting his blessings, while his neighbors try to pick up the pieces.
"Trees down everywhere, all the way around us," he says. "It's like God's thumb was right on top of us."
Police say wind tore through trees and rooftops on the west side of town around 3 p.m.
Johnathan Reynolds lives right in the storm's path, and actually looked out his window as his neighbor's roof peeled away.
"After that I didn't think anything else, I just grabbed my wife and kids and put them in the bathroom," he says. "It felt like the walls were shaking almost. It was crazy."
The storm tore through the dentist's office, ripping the roof off and throwing the debris into the fourplex next door.
"It's just smashed all into their building, their cars, the windows are smashed out," says Don Myers, who lives a few doors down from Reynolds. "That huge oak tree was probably about a 200-year-old oak tree, and it's gone... It's gone."
But despite wreckage all around it, the building the men live in didn't see a bit of damage.
"It's crazy how something can be literally five feet away and everything on this side is great and that side is not," he says.
Myers is counting his blessings, while his neighbors try to pick up the pieces.
"Trees down everywhere, all the way around us," he says. "It's like God's thumb was right on top of us."
