Tornado damages homes in Myrtle Beach neighborhood

MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WMBF) - A tornado that developed from Tropical Storm Nestor damaged several homes in one Myrtle Beach neighborhood early Sunday morning.

After surveying the damage in the Shady Grove area, the National Weather Service Damage Survey team found numerous limbs down and a few hardwood trees snapped. The NWS team determined the damage was caused by an EF-0 tornado with winds of 85 MPH. The tornado occurred early Sunday morning around 1:50 AM.

Michele Maurer lives in the Shady Grove Mobile Home Park, she says the storm was gone as quickly as it came.

“It was just so quick, it happened so quick. There was just no time to prepare, no time to do anything,” said Maurer.

She says there was one sound that warned her something was coming.

“Everybody says you hear the train... I heard the train. I heard a big crack it hit the house and shock the trailer and I called my neighbor and said you need to come to help me I have a tree in my roof," Maurer said.

Maurer said she is lucky to be alive because the tree pierced through the ceiling just feet from where she was sitting in her living room.

“I feel like if it would have hit just a little bit further over, maybe to the right, it probably would have gone straight through the window and came down as heavy as it is it would have come right down on the couch and got all .. I have two little dogs... and it would have got all three of us,” Maurer said.

A situation that many would have not stayed calm in, Maurer said after working 19-years as an E-911 dispatcher it taught her how to handle tough situations.

“I’ve pretty much learned that what has happened has happened. That crying and screaming and hollering and yelling aren’t going to help the matter, it’s just going to cause more stress. Just be thankful and grateful for what didn’t happen,” Maurer said.

She said she’s lived in the home since 2008 and through several hurricanes, she’s never had damage this bad.