Glen Allen resident rides out tornado in bathtub

GLEN ALLEN, Mo. — First responders and local residents roamed around a subdivision in Glen Allen in rural Bollinger County on Wednesday afternoon, April 5, with heavy equipment and chain saws clearing debris from roadways and houses.

It had been around eight hours since a tornado ripped through the area, killing five people.

The neighborhood is a mass of downed trees, smashed vehicles and destroyed mobile homes. One home’s shed was flipped over with a four-wheeler still inside. Another had a 30-foot tall tree completely uprooted in the front yard. A ceiling fan was lying in the middle of the road.

Kian Sutter and his dog, Molly, were in the family bathtub around 3:45 a.m. when the tornado went right by their house.

“We just huddled down in there, and we let it go by. And I felt, there was debris flying through the house,” Sutter said.

His wife, Sara, who normally heads to work around the time the tornado touched down that morning had decided to leave early to beat the storm. Sutter was in bed with Molly content to sleep through the storm as he had many times before in his native Kansas.

He began checking the radar and local news when he heard a meteorologist say there was a touchdown 5 miles west of Marble Hill, headed northeast.

The Sutters’ living room was flooded with rainwater as a result of tornado damage Wednesday, April 5.Nathan English ~ nenglish@semissourian.com

The Sutters’ living room was flooded with rainwater as a result of tornado damage Wednesday, April 5.Nathan English ~ nenglish@semissourian.com

Sara Sutter said she couldn’t hear the sirens until she reached Marble Hill on her commute to work.

“And I’m like, ‘(expletive) that’s coming right for the house,’” Kian Sutter said.

Not long after, all the lights flicked off. He grabbed his shoes, bike helmet and Molly and dove into the bathtub.

The storm sent the couple’s metal carport through the front of their house. Rain was flooding into the exposed living room just one wall from where Sutter and his pet were.

In total, he was in the tub for around 10 minutes, he said.

When he walked out of the bathroom in complete darkness, he couldn’t tell the front porch had been ripped away and the living room was caved in. He began to notice flashlights coming from his neighbors’ houses. He headed to the back door and kicked sheet metal out of his way to get out.

Sara Sutter turned around in Advance, Missouri, and headed back to their house. She and her husband headed to Cape Girardeau to her in-laws.

“Definitely the scariest thing I’ve ever experienced in my life,” Kian Sutter said.