This past weekend, several deadly tornadoes hit Arkansas, Missouri, and Texas leaving homes and buildings completely destroyed, and tragically killed at least 13 people.
The tornado came on suddenly in Emory, Texas on Saturday night, and about 45 people who had been attending a service honoring high school graduates at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church were forced to take shelter in a hallway of the church when they heard that the tornado was minutes away.
“About 30 seconds after we went into the hallway, it hit,” said Monica Hughes, a youth minister. Hughes and her husband fought to keep the double doors closed while the tornado ripped apart the church. “We could see the beams bending and the aluminum roof being ripped away,” she said. “Everybody dropped to the floor and protected one another. As soon as the worst was over, we began to sing to keep the kids calm.”
“Everyone was perfectly calm and felt like it was going to be OK,” said Hughes. But it wasn’t until EMS arrived two hours later and moved everyone because of a gas leak and broken power lines that they realized the full extent of the damage and how lucky they really were.
“Both ends of the building were blown out,” said Peyton Low, director of public affairs for the Diocese of Tyler. “People are using the term ‘miraculous‘.” Incredibly, not a single person in the church walked away with a scratch and a statue of Mary was left standing. “By the grace of God and the protection of Our Lady, no one was injured,” the diocese wrote on Facebook.
Watch the entire video below to see the shocking aftermath of the tornado.
Can you believe every single person in the church survived without a scratch? Let us know what you think in the comments below and please SHARE this with friends on Facebook.
[Featured image: Facebook/Diocese of Tyler]
Dozens Survive Tornado That Destroyed The Church They Were In is an article from: LifeDaily