Granger man thankful to be alive after tornado throws him out of his home, onto road
GRANGER, TEXAS - A Granger man says he was caught in the center of a tornado.
Three weeks ago, he says the harsh winds tossed him out of his home and on to the road outside.
"I'm blessed. Bottom line," said Larry Fleck, tornado survivor.
Larry Fleck is thankful he is alive.
"There's a reason I'm here. I mean, I have a mission in life that I don't know what it is, but God will show me," he said.
Three weeks ago, Fleck says he was feeding his pet goats in the barn outside before heading back to his home to hunker down. He knew the weather was going to be bad, but he had no idea what he was about to experience.
"I watched the porch that was here just take off," he said.
A tornado hit his mobile home in a matter of seconds with him still inside it and turned the home on its side.
"There was really no time to react," said Fleck.
Next thing Fleck knew, he was ejected from his home and thrown around outside by the harsh winds.
"It just like boom, boom, boom. I mean, it went from laying there and the next thing I can process is, I'm lying in the middle of the street," said Fleck.
Fleck says he ended up 20 yards away from where he first started, and his home was destroyed feet away from him. He says eventually he made it out of the street and into his shed.
Five minutes later, two people found him and got him to a hospital in Taylor.
His injuries include a few cracked ribs, bruises, cuts, and 11 staples in his head. Fleck says it was painful, but he feels OK now.
"It was just a godsend that my wife and my granddaughter weren't here," he said.
Fleck lived in his home with his wife, but, the day of the tornado, he took his wife and granddaughter to the airport to have a nice vacation in California at Disneyland. He stayed back to take care of the animals, but he says it was truly a blessing in disguise that they were not there.
"I don't think they would have survived this scenario at all. I really don't," he said.
As for one of his goats and his three cats, Fleck says none of them made it.
For now, he says he is ready to move on from this traumatic incident and start new memories with his family. He is sad to see it go, but he's ready to start fresh.
"New story. I'm here to do it. Plain and simple," said Fleck.
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