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'I was frantic:' Woman survives tornado lift

Posted at 8:30 AM, Sep 20, 2015
and last updated 2015-09-20 09:30:10-04

While It's been 24 hours since an EF-1 tornado ripped through a Hillsdale campground, Trisha Damron still can't believe she's alive.

"I don't know," Damron said. "It happened really fast. There wasn't any time to think about it."

The twister picked up her camper and dropped it 30 feet away, all while she was still inside.

RELATED: National Weather Service confirms 2 EF-1 tornadoes in Kansas, Missouri

"After we landed, the tornado sirens started going off," she explained. "I was frantic trying to get out of it because I didn't want to go through it again."

Her boyfriend, Mike Myers, was in Olathe working.

He rushed home to check on her. What shocked him the most was how far the tornado carried the camper Damron was locked inside of.

"This is where the camper sat," Myers explained to 41 Action News. "This is where we walked into the front door right here."

PHOTOSStorm damage left in the wake of two EF-1 tornadoes in Kansas, Missouri

Now, their lives are on hold as the family tries to save what they can.

"I'm trying to salvage what's keepable out of it and then put the rest in storage until I can figure out what to do next," said Myers.

Their cat and two dogs were also inside campers. All are alive and unharmed.

"We lost our house a few years ago and I kind of lost everything we had," said Damron. "We were just starting to get things back together. Now, it's just another rebuilding process."

To get their lives back to the way they were just a day ago.

The American Red Cross will put the family in a hotel for the next few nights, but come Monday, they'll officially be homeless.

That's why their family members in Wichita set up a Go Fund Me page in the hopes that they can quickly find a new place to call home. 

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