Thread by @ChrisJacksonSC

*Long Thread*

I went to Estill to document the damage caused by the Hampton County Tornado that developed just south of town during this past Monday's Tornado Outbreak across SC. @NWSCharlestonSC

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#scwx

Using Google Maps and the street view function its possible to begin to convey the severity of some of the damage this tornado with before and after style photos.

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I wasn't expecting to meet many people yesterday, but I was wrong. I was greeted by a lot of folks who were all upbeat, positive, and thankful for the community coming together to help each other.

#sctweets
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The first family I spoke to told me how thankful they were to be alive and then they openly shared their story of survival that was nothing short of terrifying. (Bottom left house with the carport)..

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#sctweets

They had gotten the warning and noticed the weather was getting worse rapidly and Mom had taken cover in a rear portion of the house while her daughter wasn't able to make it away from the front of the house.

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Her daughter told me she heard the rain, then she described it as hail or something that began to hit the house. Then she felt the house begin shaking and could feel the rumble similar to a locomotive. After that, she doesn't remember anything except waking up under a mattress.

She showed me where she was roughly before and where she first remembered the rain hitting her as she came to after the tornado had passed. (It was roughly 150ft or so in the backyard). Also healthwise she is ok. She had her arm in a sling and some minor cuts and scrapes.

A man on a mini-excavator stopped his machine and came to me and told his story. Again. Heartwrenching. He had been previously diagnosed with throat and mouth cancer and during and his tough time all of these people had helped him with taking care of his family. Cont..

He said they had helped keep their lights on while he was having to deal with the cancer diagnosis and shared a few more stories about how the folks in Estill had taken care of his family. He said this was the least he could do for them in return.

Chatted for a long time with another guy. He wasn't in the path but was there to help out friends. He said "Brother I am not sure how you can prepare for something like this. I don't know how you could've survived this unless you were underground or in one of those safe rooms".

We finished our conversation up with him saying "I would love to have an underground shelter or a safe room, but a lot of people here like me work on farms. I just don't have that kind of money."

This Tahoe was originally parked about 200-250ft away in front of the home and there was some scarring in the paint that generally matched the color of the painted cinder blocks.

It appears it went through the house in some way and through a vacant blown away mobile home.

Looking about 1/3 of a mile through a field with a destroyed center pivot irrigation system you see this big Oak Tree at the corner of US601 and SC3. Further to the right, some mature Pine Trees were cut off like a buzzsaw about 10 ft off the ground.

#scwx

To finish this up. The scope of the damage in Estill from this tornado is personally the worst I have ever seen first hand. As bad as the damage was here, the damage in Nixville is a lot worse. Nixville is near the horizon here and its the larger brown spot.

**The End**