Missouri State University football player Harrison Menke, a JHS graduate,
recounts the horror of the Joplin tornado in a feature in today's Springfield News-Leader:
The family -- Menke, his brother Evan, parents and grandmother --were driving home following Evan's high school graduation, held at Missouri Southern State University.
Dark skies became darker. "Navy blue," is how Menke described the color as heavy rain pelted down.
"I began seeing things that shouldn't be blowing getting blown, like doors and trees, and thought, 'Something's not right,'" said Menke, who was riding in the back seat of the SUV.
With visibility decreasing, Tami Menke, Harrison's mother, steered the vehicle into a driveway about 200 yards from the family's home.
Harrison Menke said the vehicle began to shake. Windows started to bust.
A tree crashed down on the hood. Tami Menke began praying aloud while the others attempted to cover one another.
"I literally felt that I was going to die," Harrison Menke said. "I felt it was my time and didn't know whether I was going to be crushed, sucked through a window or get hit by debris through my neck.
"I was just scared about how painful it might be."
About 45 seconds later, the storm was over. Menke said the tree probably kept the vehicle from blowing away.
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