stlkev70
4-04-06, 10:18 PM
Tornado crumples Jeep, pulls driver through sunroof, authorities say
By Elisa Crouch
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
04/04/2006
The jitters struck Megan Mahoney during Sunday's storms in a way that's different than most.
Two days before, Mahoney, 25, was on her way to spend a weekend in Ohio with college friends. She ran into a tornado while driving along Interstate 74 in Indiana. Mahoney doesn't remember what the twister looked like. But she remembers how it sounded: rocks, glass and other debris pelting metal.
Mahoney remembers the sudden fear she felt as her foot slammed on the brakes. And then, "I had this overwhelming sense of calmness."
The tornado tossed her blue Jeep Grand Cherokee around like crumpled paper. Based on her injuries, police told her that the twister had sucked her out of the seat belt and through the shattered sunroof.
Mahoney and her Jeep landed nearly 300 yards apart in a nearby field, with the vehicle at least 100 yards from the road.
"The next thing I remember, I woke up in a man's house," Mahoney said. "When he found me, apparently I was all happy and chipper to see him. I said, 'I'm Megan from Missouri.'"
The man drove her to a hospital.
Her freakish encounter illustrates the capricious nature of a tornado. It left Mahoney's legs black and blue but didn't break a single bone or manicured fingernail. It went on to peel roofs and walls from nearby houses, but left other buildings intact.
From a hospital room in Shelbyville, Ind., Mahoney borrowed a nurse's cell phone to put a late night call through to her mother, Susan Mahoney, who was at Lake of the Ozarks. Megan said she'd survived a tornado.
Said Susan Mahoney, "That was just too hard to believe."
Megan Mahoney was recovering Monday at home in Chesterfield. She has scratches on her face, which she hopes heal before next week, when she starts as an assistant manager at a St. Louis bank. A cut on her wrist required three stitches. A concussion left her woozy. She remembers her throat hurting. A nurse told her it was probably from screaming.
"I don't remember screaming at all," Mahoney said.
Before returning to Missouri, she went to see her mangled Jeep. The seat belt was still fastened in the front seat. Most windows were missing. Treads were ripped from the tires.
"If I remembered more about it, I would probably be more freaked out," Mahoney said.
By Elisa Crouch
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
04/04/2006
The jitters struck Megan Mahoney during Sunday's storms in a way that's different than most.
Two days before, Mahoney, 25, was on her way to spend a weekend in Ohio with college friends. She ran into a tornado while driving along Interstate 74 in Indiana. Mahoney doesn't remember what the twister looked like. But she remembers how it sounded: rocks, glass and other debris pelting metal.
Mahoney remembers the sudden fear she felt as her foot slammed on the brakes. And then, "I had this overwhelming sense of calmness."
The tornado tossed her blue Jeep Grand Cherokee around like crumpled paper. Based on her injuries, police told her that the twister had sucked her out of the seat belt and through the shattered sunroof.
Mahoney and her Jeep landed nearly 300 yards apart in a nearby field, with the vehicle at least 100 yards from the road.
"The next thing I remember, I woke up in a man's house," Mahoney said. "When he found me, apparently I was all happy and chipper to see him. I said, 'I'm Megan from Missouri.'"
The man drove her to a hospital.
Her freakish encounter illustrates the capricious nature of a tornado. It left Mahoney's legs black and blue but didn't break a single bone or manicured fingernail. It went on to peel roofs and walls from nearby houses, but left other buildings intact.
From a hospital room in Shelbyville, Ind., Mahoney borrowed a nurse's cell phone to put a late night call through to her mother, Susan Mahoney, who was at Lake of the Ozarks. Megan said she'd survived a tornado.
Said Susan Mahoney, "That was just too hard to believe."
Megan Mahoney was recovering Monday at home in Chesterfield. She has scratches on her face, which she hopes heal before next week, when she starts as an assistant manager at a St. Louis bank. A cut on her wrist required three stitches. A concussion left her woozy. She remembers her throat hurting. A nurse told her it was probably from screaming.
"I don't remember screaming at all," Mahoney said.
Before returning to Missouri, she went to see her mangled Jeep. The seat belt was still fastened in the front seat. Most windows were missing. Treads were ripped from the tires.
"If I remembered more about it, I would probably be more freaked out," Mahoney said.