A family of five was at home in Culpeper County, Virginia, when a tornado picked up an entire room and flung them across their yard, they told News4.
Lawrence Johnson, his wife and their three kids walked away with only minor injuries and are counting their blessings, he said.
“It’s amazing that we’re alive. Really,” Johnson said.
News4 video shows the broken building, with furniture and wreckage strewn across the yard.
An EF1 tornado with peak wind speeds of about 100 mph tore through northwestern Culpeper County on Sunday night, the National Weather Service said.
Johnson said his family was watching TV in a secondary home on their rural property when in the blink of an eye, the tornado struck.
“I got everybody, I said, ‘Get on the floor!' We all got on the floor and it just shifted the whole building like 20 feet that way and then it went up and around and flipped over like that and landed on the roof,” he said.
His 8-year-old son, William, had furniture tossed on top of him, leaving him with a cut on his leg and a swollen black eye.
“I felt like I was floating like this and I was tumbling like this and then, boom!” William Johnson recalled.
Severe weather season is off to a devastating start across the country, with the National Weather Service confirming more than 70 tornadoes across at least 15 states just since Friday.
With more than 1,000 tornadoes claiming at least 24 lives in the U.S., 2024 is the second-most-active start to a tornado season on record.
The National Weather Service es timated that the tornado in Culpeper peaked at 95 mph and traveled almost five miles in eight minutes. The damage path was about 100 yards wide, according to a preliminary report.
News4 sends breaking news stories by email. Go here to sign up to get breaking news alerts in your inbox.
Near Johnson’s home, neighbors said they’re uplifted by the spirit of the community and how many people have arrived to help clean up and make sure everyone is OK.
Johnson said he’s thankful his family was protected.
“God was with us and let us stay where we was at,” he said.
