DARLINGTON, SC (WBTW) – Eight years ago a tornado tore through Marie Melton’s home with her, her son, and her son’s friend inside the house.
“It was a warm day, the sky was blue and cloudy, and some big rain drops started falling,” she remembered.
Melton said it was about 7 o’clock when she walked into her house eight years ago, and the power shut off twice within a few minutes.
“I heard this roar,” she said. “This deep roar, and I got up to see if my son, Josh, heard it, and he met me in the hallway. When he looked out the window he said ‘Oh my God Mama, it’s a tornado’.”
Melton said she held on to her son and his friend as her house blew apart with all three of them inside.
“All three of us were right together when it stopped, and there was a pulling force,” she said. “I could feel it pulling us, and I wasn’t going to turn my son loose.”
Melton said the house was pulled from its foundation, and turned upside down.
The tornado hit the Oates community with wind speeds at 130 miles per hour.
She said after the tornado had hit, they were all three still together.
“It was just quiet, and you could’ve heard a pin drop, and little did I know I was standing on my Chevrolet Tahoe,” she said. “It felt like we were in a clothes dryer going around and around. [There were] boards breaking, and glass breaking, and dirt flying, and it was awful.”
She said there are still moments she doesn’t remember.
“They said they were pulling out pieces of clothing, and things they could find to lay down for me to walk on because I was barefoot, and my feet were cut,” Melton said.
The Meltons said more than 100 volunteers showed up to help with the rubble.
“A neighbor down the road pulled them, and helped them out of the house,” said Melton’s husband, Johnny. “We were amazed with how many people came to help.”
She said her cat was caught in the tornado, but it found its way home eight days after the tornado struck.
“We were blessed we didn’t have a loss of life,” Johnny Melton said. “That’s the main thing.”
Melton said her dog, Boss, who was five-months-old at the time, was also tossed and thrown in the tornado, and now walks with a limp.
“I’m sure it took him across the road because we didn’t see him at first,” she said about Boss. “Him and two other dogs were in shock for a while.”
The Melton’s lost their home, two barns, an equipment shed, and a few cars. They have since rebuilt a home on the same land, but not in the same spot.
“We moved in almost a year to the day in April 2011,” she said.
The two said they are thankful that nobody, including all of their animals, were killed.
“The good thing is God spared their lives, and we were able to rebuild back and better than we did before,” Milton said.
