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" On June 5, 2010 around 11 pm, I awoke to my boyfriend, Zach telling me to get ready for work, because there was a storm and that I should leave early to avoid any problems in being late to work. I saw the storm cell on the news and also saw that Bowling Green, Ohio had a tornado warning, which was where I worked and I could remember while I was sleeping I thought I too had heard a tornado siren. So I called my mom she said that the local weather reporters said that the storm had passed and that the next cell should be here around 2 A.M. Then I called my dad and he said the same. So I got ready and left his house in Walbridge 15 minutes before I normally do, because I wanted to make sure I could take my time.

As I walked out of Zach's house I noticed that there was severe non-stop lightning, like every second there was lightning, pouring down rain, and that the whole sky seemed blood red. Zach told me when I got to I-75 to call him and he would talk to me from there, but I told him no, I wanted to talk to him all the way there because of the way it looked outside. So when I got to my car I called him and started heading out.

As I was driving down Cummings Road talking to Zach my mom called, so I clicked over, she asked how I was doing. I told her I was scared out of my mind and I then noticed to the right of me past the trains what seemed to be an explosion of blue. I started crying. My mom said I would be ok, and that according to the news the storm had already past. I was telling her about the flashing blue light. She said that it was probably a light at Metcalf warning planes. She didn’t realize the flashing blue light was on my right side and Metcalf was on the left. Looking back now, we know that it was a transformer.

So she hung up and I tried calling Zach back but my phone wouldn’t call out to anyone. That’s when I became extremely scared because I had no one to talk to. I noticed a vehicle in my rear view mirror speeding up to me. As I was taking the curve on Cummings, a white van passed me at an intense speed, which scared me even more. I kept trying to call someone, yelling at my phone because it wouldn’t call out. I saw the light ahead of me on Cummins road at 795 turn red. The white van was still ahead of me and I watched them whip into the Lake Township police station. I kept going straight to the light and I was going to turn right at the light. But once I stopped at the red light, everything went to hell. The wind was extreme, debris was hitting my car and I then knew there was a tornado somewhere very close!

So something told me to go through the red light, and turn left instead of right. I did, but once I turned I felt my back end of my jeep rise up and go towards the left, and as this happened I knew I was going in. I had no control over my jeep. I couldn’t turn the wheel, I couldn’t use the brakes. Right when I got picked up a piece of 2x4 or a telephone pole hit my windshield, and if it wouldn’t have hit the post of the car I know I wouldn’t be here right now. Windows were shattering around me and debris was hitting me. I thought my life was over. This continued on for what seemed to be forever. I felt a hard blow to my jeep on the back passenger side by some type of debris and I believe that is what hit me out of the grips of the tornado. I was thrown into a ditch across the street from Lake High School facing the opposite way. I had no control over my jeep from the time I turned left onto 795 until I landed in the ditch, a total of 6 tenths of a mile. If it wasn’t for the ditch being so high my jeep would have kept flipping.

With all this going on Zach’s call somehow came in and once I answered all I could get out was screams and help me. Once I was out of the tornado all I could get out was I love you and tell my family I love them, not knowing if the tornado was going to pick me up again or not. After what seemed like forever, some people stopped on the side of the road and helped me out of the jeep. It was a lady (her name was Amanda too) and a doctor. My face, neck, and arms were covered in blood. The doctor checked me over. I was then able to get a hold of my mom. She and my stepdad rushed to get me. The doctor told her to take me home and get me cleaned up because he didn’t see anything major wrong with me, and if I went to the hospital we might be there a while waiting. I had shattered glass in my hair, in my mouth, on my clothes, and all over my arms.

My jeep had its roof rack ripped off, shingles embedded in the wheel wells, the tires were popped, there were dents everywhere and almost all of the windows were broken out. It was such a miracle that I was able to walk away. I know other people were not that lucky and my heart and prayers go out to their families every day.

Thinking back I know there were many signs that there was a tornado close by but I was so afraid I didn’t recognize any of them. It had stopped raining; everything was calm, the lightning was nuts, the sky’s color was so unusual. Obviously the tornado was right next to me but I didn’t even see it, and honestly I’m glad I didn’t because I don’t know what I would have done if I would have seen that massive thing coming right at me. As my mom said I did all the right things in turning the way I did, running the light, not pulling in behind the van at the police station, and following my instincts. I know God was with me that night, and he helped me get through it alive and I am very grateful to be alive. I had a medallion in my jeep with me. It said “If God takes you to it, he’ll get you through it.”

I’m sorry it took so long for me to get this to you, but I had to stop a lot as I was writing things down. Going back to that night is not easy. It was an experience I would never wish upon to even the greatest of enemies. It was a very traumatic thing to go through.

Thank you for your time and for reading my story. I hope this will be able to help other people recognize signs we are as far back as elementary school and to not ignore them. "

PICTURES OF AMANDA'S JEEP

STILL IMAGES FROM DRACONi VIDEO