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Local Teen Endured Tennessee Tornado

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By KEITH MORELLI, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 8, 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 a bathtub and surrounded by blackness, did the same.

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

Elmblad, in her freshman year at Union University in Jackson, Tenn., was home Thursday 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.

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 quiet setting that drew Elmblad to Union. She said she searched for a college 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 at first 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 Jackson area 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 the women followed the emergency plan.

"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."

The lights went out, so cell phones doubled as flashlights.

That's when the pressure dropped and the place seemed to shake. The moment seemed like forever, she said, but it probably lasted only minutes. Then 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, she said. "The first thing we saw was roofing everywhere."

Townspeople opened up their homes and Elmblad stayed with a doctor. Wednesday, she came home. The school canceled classes for two weeks.

It's strange, she said, being home when she should be in college.

"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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