HERNSHAW, W.Va. — An Eastern Kanawha County resident says one most recently confirmed tornado that hit the region caused an 80-foot tree to fall dead-center on his home, wiping that portion of it completely out.
Ernest Meadows lives on a little road called Rings Hollow Road about three miles from Kanawha State Forest in the Hernshaw community. The National Weather Service recently confirmed an EF1 tornado hit there on April 2 with speeds of 100 mph. It was 200 yards wide and traveled about five miles.
Meadows said it also affected a few of his neighbors in the area, as well.
Similar to many other residents’ accounts from the storm, he said it was very loud and like nothing he had ever experienced before after living in the area his entire life.
“We were lucky, I think we got the edge of it, but the storm came down the hallow and as I said, I was standing in the doorway and it was like someone threw a white sheet over my head, and it’s true what they say in the movies, it does truly sound like a freight train,” Meadows told MetroNews.
The NWS said the recent storm was a record-breaking one after storm teams confirmed a total 10 tornadoes that touched down in the state including five in Kanawha County.
Meadows said a wall in his home was the only thing which saved him from being crushed that day.
“I had built a divider wall to separate the kitchen from the other part of the house,” he explained. “That wall, which was L-shaped, was four feet long, six feet wide, and that’s basically what held the tree up off of me.”
Meadows said the tornado lasted only a few minutes there before crossing over a hill and hitting lower Hernshaw where it did a lot more damage.
“There was a camper that was completely demolished, about a 32 foot camper, there was a top that blew off of a house, a porch blew off of a house, the car port they had over top of the camper went about 200 to 300 feet up the hillside,” he said.
Meadows said it also left a plethora of tree damage in its wake. However, Meadows said fortunately, the homes in the lower Hernshaw area did not receive any real major damages besides the top that blew off one of the structures there.
As with everyone impacted by the April 2 storm, Meadows said his focus now turns to making the needed repairs.
“Currently I’m in the process of ripping and tearing the old stuff off, and my son started a GoFund Me account for me, he lives in Logan County, and he started a little GoFund Me page which is going to help out quite a bit,” said Meadows.
He said an American Red Cross representative also stopped by the following day and gave him some funds to buy material for those repairs.
About 140,000 Appalachian Power customers lost electricity from the storm. No deaths were reported.