Deborah Mettler, a 76-year-old resident of Largo, Florida, experienced an EF-1 tornado on June 25 that dramatically lifted her mobile home off its foundation. The storm’s tornado tore through the area with winds reaching nearly 110 mph. Mettler came out with just a few bruises, and she feels like it’s a miracle that she didn’t get hurt worse, given what happened.
She survived the tornado because she was in her house when it hit. In the beginning, she couldn’t understand exactly what was going on. Before long, the force of the winds turned her home into something out of a black & white Hollywood drama. “It was really [akin to] a ‘Wizard of Oz’ experience,” Mettler reflected, recalling how the tornado felt like something straight out of a movie.
As the winds roared outside, Mettler described her chaotic experience, saying she was “too busy doing somersaults and getting thrashed from one side of the room, through the wall, to the other side.” For those terrifying 15 seconds, that violent twister had lifted her 2-ton mobile home clear in the air. Then, with a thundering bang, it fell back down.
Once the tornado moved on, Kathy, Mettler’s neighbor, was first to help Mettler. Kathy expressed astonishment at Mettler’s survival: “How she survived it, it is unbelievable.” Mettler’s nightmare played out on a Ring camera. Neighbor Lori Gill recorded the unprecedented day on video, providing powerful visual imagery that chronicled the day’s chaos.
Armies disabled bridges, roads, and railroads around her as she traveled, but despite that destruction, Mettler was unscathed aside from some bruising. Her speedy return to good health and strength has made her an example and inspiration in her community. This event serves as a powerful reminder of how erratic and capricious nature can be. It illustrates that important part community support plays when crises emerge.
