Vilonia family reflects on 2014 tornado
VILONIA, Ark. – Saturday marks 10 years since an EF-4 tornado devastated multiple cities in the Natural State.
Mayflower and Vilonia took some of the hardest blows.
In Vilonia, when Romaine McDaniel and her family took cover in their Safe Shed storm shelter on April 27, 2014, life was as they knew it.
“Time has flown by,” McDaniel said.
Scholarship given in honor of two children who died in Vilonia tornado
But when the tornado was over, and she opened the door, “everything was gone,” she said.
McDaniel says while taking cover, she could “hear stuff hitting against” the Safe Shed.
There’s a photo a car truck bent and destroyed that she was laying on top of the Safe Shed.
The tornado was so powerful that it moved the 24-thousand-pound structure.
“It scooted off of the concrete slab, but it never turned over,” McDaniel said.
McDaniel says the damage the Safe Shed endured caught the Safe Shed company’s attention.
Following the 2014 tornado, McDaniel was told by the company that her Safe Shed “was the first one they had over sold that took a direct hit.”
Vilonia resident reflects on day EF-4 tornado tore through his home
She said, “when they looked at the damages, they said we want to take this back, do improvements and send you one with the improvements on it.”
7 people took cover inside McDaniel’s Safe Shed that day, including her husband.
A photo was taken the day after of her husband sitting in the doorway of the shed looking at all the damage.
Her late husband who was ironically was a truck driver lives on as that photo of him outside the Safe Shed is on the side of the company’s delivery trucks.
“He’s gone now but he’s still trucking,” McDaniel said.
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