‘The louder the storm got, the louder our praying got’ said Kimberly tornado victim

Boren, her husband Randy, their 24-year-old nephew and their two young sons, ages 10 and 6, went to their safe room when the first alarms sounded. “We got word through social media that it was cancelled, so we went back upstairs and were watching the weather,” she said.

About 10:20 p.m. the sirens started again. “Quite honestly, I had a bad feeling,” she said.

They went back to their safe room in the basement, and the young boys donned their four-wheeling helmets. Her husband was standing at the garage door when he saw what was headed their way.

“We all kneeled down and started to pray,” she said. “The louder the storm got, the louder our praying got. It was surreal.”

Just as they moved the mattress in front of the safe room doorway, chaos erupted. “Everything exploded,” Boren said. “The garage door blew in. We heard glass shattering. There was a large boom type of explosion.”

The damage in those areas is widespread, including massive destruction of the Kimberly Fire Department and the Kimberly Church of God, but authorities are thankful it wasn’t worse. The injuries were all minor, and none required transport by ambulance.