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Local Student Survives Tennessee Tornado

News Channel 8 photo by MAURICE CAPOBIANCO

Union University Student Claire Elmblad is surrounded by everything she could save from the tornado.

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By KEITH MORELLI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 7, 2008

TAMPA - With sirens wailing and a tornado approaching, 19-year-old Claire Elmblad of Wesley Chapel began praying out loud. Her fellow Union University dormitory roommates, all hunkered down in the cramped bathtub and surrounded by blackness, did the same.

The change in air pressure popped their ears and flushed the toilet. Over the outside roar, the terrified women heard the drain in the sink sucking air.

Elmblad, in her freshmen year at Union University in Jackson, Tenn., was home today with her parents in Pasco County, recounting the horror that gripped the small Christian college this week. She graduated from Wesley Chapel High School last year.

The tornadoes that hit Union University were part of a storm system that swept through several Southern and Midwestern states Tuesday night, killing more than 50 people and injuring hundreds more.

At Union, 26 students had to be rescued from damaged dorms. In all, 50 were taken from the campus to hospitals.

The hectic scene was a far cry from the small, quiet college that drew Elmblad to Union. She said she searched around for a college, seeking one with a strong Christian atmosphere. She wanted a liberal arts education and an engineering career. Union fit the bill, she said.

"It has about 200 people fewer than my high school," she said.

Tuesday night seemed like most other nights, except Elmblad was recovering from the flu. Her roommates had just returned from the store with supplies when the sirens sounded.

A few of her five roommates are from the area of the college and were used to the tornado warnings and watches, she said. So when the sirens went off, they scoffed.

"I knew there was some bad weather in the area," she said. "I totally jumped."
But all the girls followed the plan, heading to the bathroom. All the while, the wind whipped. The sirens wailed.

"We had heard from some other people how frightening it was," Elmblad said. "I took it very seriously.
"We, all five of us, piled into our bathroom and into the bathtub. We prayed for our safety and the safety of the others on the campus. We prayed for our stuff."

Each of the girls called home, she said.

"The lights started to flicker and I thought, 'OK, it's really close.'"

The lights went out, so cell phones doubled as flashlights. The roar outside was deafening. Beyond it all was the sound of the sirens.

"We started singing praise songs," she said.

That's when the pressure dropped and the roar reached its crescendo. The place seemed to shake. The moment seemed like forever, she said, but it probably lasted only two to three minutes. And just like that, it was over.

"We started getting phone calls from our friends about damage."

The group ventured outside before being ordered to return inside, she said. "The first thing we saw was roofing everywhere."

Students were gathered and told to go to a safe building. From there, townspeople opened up their homes and Elmblad spent the night with a town doctor. Wednesday, she came home. The school cancelled classes for two weeks.

It's strange being home when she should be in college, she said.
"But, I'm very thankful for a safe place to sleep."

Reporter Keith Morelli can be reached at (813) 259-7760 or kmorelli@tampatrib.com.

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