Family recounts story surviving tornado in West Point

Published 5:25 pm Sunday, March 26, 2023

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

WEST POINT — A family that lives on Samples Road got quite a scare by Sunday morning’s tornado, but thankfully lived through it without being injured. Susie Harris talked to The Valley Times-News about that experience Sunday afternoon while she was walking along 1st Avenue and looking at the massive damage all around the neighborhood. There were a number of people in their small home when the tornado powered its way across Highway 29 brushing past the house and causing some minor roof damage.

Harris was in the home with her 87-year-old mother, Kate, daughters, Tonya and Nika and their family members.

“First came the hailstorm and later the tornado,” Harris said. “When the tornado was bearing down on us, my boyfriend told us all to get down on the floor. We could hear shingles being blown off the roof, the sounds of big trees cracking and falling to the ground and that loud roar of the wind. I tell you it was really scary and that there was a lot of praying going on in that house.”

In looking at all the damage in her neighborhood, Harris said her heart goes out to those who lost everything, but she is grateful no one was killed or badly hurt.