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‘I lost everything;’ Couple shares story of survival after deadly tornado hits mobile home park

LOGAN COUNTY — A couple cannot return home after a deadly tornado ripped through their area.

That couple told News Center 7′s John Bedell that they rode out the storm in their mobile home as winds tossed them outside.

John Luhn and Melissa Keeton are driving around with their life’s belongings packed up in the back of their car.

It’s all they have left after Thursday’s deadly tornadoes destroyed their home in Lakeview.

“It’s gone,” Keeton said.

They were inside their mobile home when the storms hit near Indian Lake.

Keeton grabbed Luhn, and their two dogs, and they rolled up onto some carpet.

>> RELATED: All 3 victims killed in tornado in Logan County identified

“When the tornado came, we rolled out the bay window,” Keeton said.

“We were laying there, you could feel the wind picking up, then I could actually start to see the walls go … I knew it was serious,” Luhn said. “Then I just felt myself rolling and the next thing I knew, I woke up outside of the mobile home on the grass.”

Luhn ended up in the hospital for a day and a half with broken ribs, elbows, plus shrapnel in her legs.

Some of their neighbors were two of the three people killed in the storm.

“Marylin and Darla. They were just a few doors down from us,” Luhn said.

Now being able to fit everything he has into a carload, Luhn said they have heavy, but grateful hearts.

“We survived it … we sure did,” he said. “By the grace of God, others weren’t as fortunate. There’s others that are injured more.”

Luhn said he had mobile home insurance, but the company he has with quit carrying that coverage and he couldn’t find another carrier.

They did not have insurance at the time of the tornado.

The couple’s goal is to someday rebuild here.

For now, they’re staying with Luhn’s daughter in Lima.

We will continue to follow this story.




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