LOCAL—It was shortly before 11 a.m. on Sunday when the worst thing he imagined became reality.
“We were there to visit Grandpa, my dog and me, when I saw the funnel cloud touch down in the distance,” said Delbert McCorriston, “I looked for a place to run… and ran.”
McCorriston, a high school football star, tucked his pug Franklin under his arm and ran down the field dodging and weaving headstones until he jumped into an open grave. He and the canine hid in relative safety until the tornado passed.
“I saw trees and shovels and wheelbarrows and bouquets flying in the air. You name it,” he described. “And sod. Me and Franklin were covered with pieces of flying sod. It covered us like a dirty blanket.”
When he and the dog emerged, they saw that the wind had cut a wide swath through the ground. Investigators measured it at 50 meters across at its widest point. The devastation was significant, with hundreds exhumed by the damage.
“I’m mostly just glad to be alive.” McCorriston said. “And that no-one was already in that hole we jumped into.”