I survived this tornado!

On June 13 my family was in Tracy, Minnesota. We had driven there from Houston for my Grandmas funeral.

We were packing the car toreturn to Houston when the severe storm sirens sounded. My dad rounded us up and we headed for the basement. For the next 15 minutes we huddled under the pingpong table, wrpped ourselves in throw rugs and my mom had us sing Jesus loves me. My older sister said she was going to throw up. My grandma refused to come down to the basement until the last second at which time my dad picked her up and shoved her under the table.

The sound was deafening!

As we huddled together - we heard all the windows of the house explode, the kitchen cupboards pull off the walls, the chimney snap off the house.

Then suddenly there was silence. We crept up the stairs to find 75% of my grandma and grandpas house gone. We looked out to what would have been the backyard and allwe could see was lumber from the house that used to be behind her. In the rubble lay her neighbor - she was dead!

Here is an article from Wikipedia about the tornado:

The 1968 Tracy tornado was an F5. It struck Tracy, Minnesota on June 13, 1968. The tornado killed nine people and injured 150 others as it tracked 9 miles (14 km) through Murray, Lyon and Redwood counties in southwestern Minnesota.[1] It is one of only two official F5 tornadoes that have occurred in Minnesota, although several other tornadoes that occurred before 1950 are estimated to have been F5 strength.[2] The tornado destroyed 111 homes, caused major damage to 76, and minor damage to 114. Five businesses were destroyed and 15 damaged. The elementary school and 106 automobiles were also destroyed. A heavy boxcar was heaved more than a block in the storm. Winds were estimated at 261 to 318 mph.

Sirens sounded in Tracy at 6:55 p.m., just a few minutes before the twister struck. The siren was sounded thanks to a call to the authorities from Delpha (Mrs. Melvin) Koch, who saw the tornado from her rural Garvin home.[citation needed]