Homeowners Thankful After Narrowly Missing Friday's Storm

Mark Rigsby wasn't in his basement. 

Rigsby, who lives at 7 Raspberry Topping Court in St. Charles County, knew a bad storm was heading his way, but he just couldn't look away. 

"This was a separate funnel, I think," Rigsby said. "I stood right there in that window and watched it. I wanted to run away, but it was too good of a show to run away."

Standing in front of window, Rigsby was watching the storm when, an instant, he saw chaos.

"Everything you see here, all the limbs in the yard, that all happened in a half a second," he said. "POW, it hit, and all that happened. Gravel hit the window and made step back. I looked in the back of the house and saw the transformers busting down the trail back here."

Rigsby said he was fortunate. While his yard is littered with leaves and tree limbs, his house is still very much intact. He said there was some minor roof damage, but compared to some of his neighbors, he wasn't complaining. 

"I was lucky," he said. "... It just kind of skipped over us here."

Risby's neighbor, Robert Klenk, also had just minor damage to his home. Unlike his neighbor, Klenk wasn't watching the storm. He was heading to the basement when the storm hit. 

"My son and grandson were in the basement," he said. "My wife and I and our granddaughter were heading down to the basement, but it was over while we were heading down the steps."

Klenk said the storm came fast and left just as quickly.

"It lasted about five to 10 seconds and then it was over," Klenk said. 

Klenk said he had some trees damaged, just one in his front yard, and he lost some shingles on his roof. He said he was lucky the damage was so minor and everyone in his home was unharmed.