When Erica Bohannon sought refuge inside her closet, she never imagined what would happen next: A roaring sound, her roof flying off, debris everywhere.
The mother said she had a few minutes to prepare before the tornado hit her home in Trotwood, Ohio yesterday.
It was among the 53 twisters that forecasters said may have touched down across eight states stretching eastward from Idaho and Colorado.
Her apartment now in shambles, Bohannon, her son and their dog miraculously made it out alive.
"It's not livable at all," she said, referring to her apartment, much of it now without a roof.
"It's basically like you're looking straight up straight up at the sky, and my closet is cracked, and the bathroom is cracked, too," she said.
But she is lucky - the tornado, with up to 225kmh winds, left catastrophic damage in the community of a little over 24,000 people.
Dozens were treated for injuries.
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