Paige Purvis takes the “sounded like a train” tornado cliche to a
horrifying level.
“I rode the train,” Purvis said.
A tornado spawned by the remnants of Hurricane Frances on Sept. 7
ripped Purvis’ rural Sumter County mobile home from its foundation,
tossed it nearly 100 feet and smashed it into splinters on her
neighbor’s house across Ithica Drive. Miraculously, when rescuers
dug through the wreckage, they opened a horizontal bathroom door and
found Purvis underneath.
“They say I stood up and said ‘Thank you, Lord!’ then fell back
down,” said Purvis, 37, who remembers little about the trip to her
personal Oz that ended in Tuomey Regional Medical Center.
Purvis is the personification of South Carolina’s busy 2004
hurricane season, and her story sets the tone for authorities
warning residents to be prepared for the 2005 season.
Tropical systems don’t have to be hurricanes — they don’t even
have to be nearby — to wreak havoc. The center of Frances passed
over Georgia as a tropical storm, yet it produced 46 tornadoes in
South Carolina.
That’s why emergency officials warn people about complacency when
a storm weakens or turns away from the state. Things still can get
nasty in a hurry.
“If (emergency officials) tell you to get out of mobile homes,”
Purvis said, “do it.”
While South Carolina didn’t face the devastation Florida felt
last year, the state did take blows from a record six tropical
systems — Bonnie, Charley, Frances, Gaston, Ivan and Jeanne. They
caused $110 million in damage, according to the S.C. Insurance News
Service. That’s second only to 1989, when Hugo put a $4.2 billion
hit on the state.
Charley and Gaston were minimal hurricanes when they came ashore
near Awendaw, and the coast suffered the worst beach erosion in
years. Most of the damage, however, arose from inland flooding and
tornadoes from the other storms.
A record 76 twisters touched down in the state in August and
September, according to the National Weather Service. They
demolished 100 homes and caused one death in Fairfield County.
As the remnants of Hurricane Frances passed over Georgia, the
volatile outer bands collided with stable air over South Carolina
and produced 46 tornadoes Sept. 6-8. One took Purvis for a ride.
Last week, Purvis cringed when reminded that hurricane season was
about to begin again. She only recently started feeling at peace in
the tidy new mobile home that replaced the one that was destroyed.
She returned to her job at the Bosch plant about a month ago.
As she relaxed in a recliner in front of a coffee table adorned
with a portrait of Jesus, she smiled. “Just knowing I can get up in
the morning, wash myself and get to work feels good.”
On Sept. 7, the single mother came home from her overnight shift
and put her daughter, Leslie Baker, on the school bus. She stretched
out on the sofa for a brief nap, waking up to the “train” sound. “I
just heard something in my head say go to the bathroom. If I’d gone
outside, I’d be dead.”
Suddenly, the walls shook like an angry ocean. The next thing
Purvis remembers was waking up in the hospital.
“They told me ain’t nobody walked away from something like that,”
Purvis said of the emergency personnel who treated her. “But the
Lord’s amazing. He wanted me to live.”
A blunt object had smashed against Purvis’ side, tearing all the
muscles in her abdominal wall. She spent two weeks in the hospital,
and still feels numb on her right side if she stands too long.
Compared with Purvis, Tammie and Jay Baker got off easy. The
tornado that blasted Purvis’ house to bits hopped over a pond before
ripping off the Bakers’ roof and shooting an oak tree missile
through the brick outer wall.
Nine months later, workers are installing siding on the eaves of
the house, completing the long rebuilding process. With the help of
family and friends, the Bakers replaced the roof, flooring and
interior wallboard.
“You find out who your friends are when something like this
happens,” Jay Baker said.
Hurricane season is starting again too soon for the Bakers.
“I always said I wanted to see a tornado up close,” Jay Baker
said. “I don’t want to see one no more.”
On Sept. 7, Tammie Baker came running in from the front porch
screaming that a tornado was coming. Jay raced outside, where he
could see the debris of Purvis’ house twisting in the wide funnel
cloud.
The couple, their one child who was home at the time and one of
Jay’s co-workers huddled in a bathroom in the middle of their brick
home. “Wind and water came gushing up under the door,” Jay Baker
said. “I don’t care who you are, that’ll scare you.”
The roof blew off, and a large oak tree flew like a missile
through the house, causing massive damage but no injuries. “God was
in the house,” Jay Baker said.
Purvis feels the same way about her house. She admits she had
done some “running with the devil” before the tornado. Now she
speaks at local churches, sharing her belief God saved her.
“I say ‘Lord, it’s amazing how you took something so bad and made
something good of it,’” Purvis said.
Within days of the storm, her daughter’s school had raised money
to replace their lost clothes. Churches offered food, furniture and
funds.
Fortunately, Purvis and the Bakers had insurance (another lesson
emergency officials like to stress). Purvis got enough from her
insurance company to replace her destroyed car and buy a slightly
smaller mobile home. People tell her she’s crazy to move back into a
mobile home.
“I’m a single mom. This is the best I can do.”
But she will be paying more attention to weather reports this
hurricane season. And if experts say people in mobile homes should
seek shelter in more secure structures, she’ll pack up Leslie and
leave.
Reach Holleman at (803) 771-8366 or jholleman@thestate.com.
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