Leslie Relives Scary Moment On the Twin Bridges During Tornado

On a stormy Spring morning, 8 years ago, I was face to face with a tornado that was headed North along the Ohio River.

At the time I was driving through Henderson and headed toward the Twin Bridges. It was dark so the tornado had an enormous advantage on me. I called my radio partner, at the time, Jon Prell, and ask him what I should do. I was scared and had no idea what my next move was supposed to be. Jon told me to get off the bridge, NOW.

I panicked, started crying, and sped my way across the Northbound Twin Bridge. There was no way I could make it to your safe place at work in downtown Evansville, so I pulled into the Ellis Park parking lot hoping that someone would help me. Either that or I would have to find someplace, around the race track, to go to try and protect myself. The wind was blowing, it was raining hard and I couldn't see anything. My life was flashing before my eyes, I thought this could actually take my life. I was in survival mode.

Someone DID help me that morning. As I pulled into the Elis Park parking lot, a man ran out into the wind and rain, with a flash light to help me. He took me into an old freezer, we shut the door and prayed. We could hear things crashing and falling outside the door. The sound of the wind was deafening. It lasted about 10 minutes, but it was the longest 10 minutes of my life. I couldn’t help but think about what might have happened if the kind stranger hadn’t helped me.

An ENORMOUS thank you to the security guard who helped me at Ellis Park that morning named Melvin. I pulled up to the gate and he helped me into a safe room for shelter from the storm. I was crying and anxious, not sure what the next few moments had in store for me, and he was there. Angels have many faces, but now I know, that one of them, looks like Melvin. :-)

Melvin, you are an angel and my HERO!! Thank you.....