Staff Writer
rseaborn@pickenssentinel.com
CLEMSON - Alyshia Beeco, of Easley, was working at Outdoor Outfitters, located just across from the university's intramural field, and preparing for the end of her shift when the path of the first tornado to hit Clemson Tuesday took it just over the business.
"The weather sirens (at Clemson University) had been going off for the past two days, but they would go off for a few minutes and then stop," she said. "It was like that for a couple of days, and we just didn't pay them much attention."
However, the sirens sounded continuously Tuesday afternoon, and Beeco said she thought the level of noise they created increased.
"It just seemed they got louder and louder," she said.
A co-worker asked if there was a fire in the area.
"I said those aren't sirens for a fire, those are weather sirens," Beeco said.
When she looked outside, not only did she see the sky having an unusual color, she saw her friend and his small son parked in the store's lot, waiting for her to leave work for a trip to Greenville.
"I saw the sky looked weird and then I saw Jason's car parked in front of our sign, and the sign was leaning toward his car," she said. "I just thought to myself that maybe he should move when he started backing away from the sign.
"Then I thought, 'oh no, don't leave,'" she said. "But he pulled his car up against the building as close as he could get."
Still not certain about what was happening, Beeco said she rushed outside to bring her friend and the little boy inside the business.
"The wind was really blowing," she said. "We had some paper signs up on the outside walls, and they were just blowing everywhere."
With the child's safety first in her thoughts, Beeco said she ran out into the storm, unbuckled the little boy from his car safety seat and ran into the center of Outdoor Outfitters, followed by her friend.
The pressure and force of the wind made just closing the front door behind them difficult, she said.
"The door wouldn't lock, and we would push it closed and it would fling open again," she said.
Beeco said her friend watch in disbelief as the tornado formed overhead.
"Jason said that he was sitting in his car, watching the sky, when it just seemed like the sky was coming down on him," she said. "That's when he noticed that all the trees around from every direction were leaning in toward the car."
As Beeco, her friends and co-worker remained huddled in the middle of Outdoor
Outfitters, they could hear limbs snapping and items being tossed against the building as the storm raged past.
"I have never been in a tornado, but I thought that if I ever were, this is what it would be like," she said. "It was just crazy.
"I just never expected a tornado to happen here," she said.
The tornado, the first of two to strike Clemson Tuesday, was ruled an F-1 by the National Weather Service.
Post a Comment
