CLOVIS, Calif. (KFSN) — Mangled sheet metal, toppled trees and a power pole snapped like a twig. It was anything but a normal day for Don Wright.<\/p>\n
“All of a sudden, it sounded like a freight train,” says Don Wright, Clovis Resident.<\/p>\n
Asleep inside when he tells Action News, a tornado tore through his Clovis property.<\/p>\n
“It was whipping I had never seen it that powerful here in the valley,” says Wright.<\/p>\n
In a matter of seconds, his family’s horse barn was lifted by the strong wind gusts and sent flying through the air, landing yards short of their home.<\/p>\n
The property is located off Highway 168. A video taken near Academy Avenue shows the dark funnel cloud as it left behind a trail of destruction.<\/p>\n
According to a local storm report from the National Weather Service, the damage was consistent with an EF1 tornado, meaning peak wind gusts could have reached 110 miles per hour.<\/p>\n
“I took us all by surprise. When’s the last time you heard anyone getting their place torn up by a tornado around here?” says Wright.<\/p>\n
His mother was inside her home on the property when a tree fell on the roof. Luckily, she and everyone else inside at the time were okay. Their two horses were out in the pasture, shaken but untouched.<\/p>\n
“It could’ve been worse. The trees caught it. The bigger trees caught it,” says Wright.<\/p>\n
PG&E and fire crews responded as several power lines also went down, leaving them in the dark.<\/p>\n
Now, Don and his family are left to clean up the scattered debris as his home appears to have gone through a washing machine.<\/p>\n
Dons lived in Clovis for nearly four decades and had never seen anything like this. But, with a smile, he tells me he’s glad he can tell the story.<\/p>\n
“Kind of a metaphor for me for how close if God hadn’t been watching out for us,” says Wright.<\/p>\n
Now, Don says his family will be focused on cleanup over the next several days and on dealing with insurance as they pick up the pieces.<\/p>\n
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