76-year-old speaks out after tornado lifts home off ground with her inside
A Florida woman is speaking out after she survived an EF-1 tornado that lifted her house off its foundation while she was inside.
Deborah Mettler, 76, described the ordeal to ABC affiliate WFTS-TV in Tampa Bay, Florida, likening it to something straight out of a movie.
“It was really [akin to] a ‘Wizard of Oz’ experience,” Mettler said, referencing the tornado scene in the classic 1939 movie.
The dramatic event unfolded in Largo, Florida, north of St. Petersburg, on June 25 and was caught on Mettler’s neighbor Lori Gill’s Ring camera. Footage shows the moment Mettler’s mobile home was lifted nearly completely off the ground for about 15 seconds by 110 mph winds before slamming back down.
Mettler was in her home for the entire time and said she didn’t know what had happened at first.
“I didn't realize I was actually up in the air,” Mettler said. “I was too busy doing somersaults and getting thrashed from one side of the room, through the wall, to the other side.”
“I ended up back here in the bedroom. I had been in what was a family room and stepped out, which was good, because it's no longer there at all,” she continued. “So if I had stayed in that room, I don't know what would have happened to me.”
Mettler walked away with only bruises after a neighbor helped her get out of her house.
A neighbor named Kathy told WFTS, “How she survived it, it is unbelievable."
Photos and video footage show the extensive damage to the city. About 40 to 50 residences at Ranchero Village and 10 to 15 in the Bay Ranch Manufactured Home Communities had minor to severe storm-related damage.
