The Item from Sumter, South Carolina • 1

Tuomey lab 1st in SC to be ISO certified TO HP USC Iigers miss chances on hardwood tm' WT! if Plus more images from Clarendon tornado 8A Tc 2 j- I FOUNDED OCTOBER 15 1894 Jj SUNDAY JANUARY 15 2006 Volume 111 Number 92 WEATHER FOR TODAY Mostly sunny High 55 Low 38 See page 6A for details 6 SECTIONS 44 PAGES SUMTERSC $125 Community in ruins in wake of tornado By JOE PERRY and SHARRON HALEY Item Staff Writers HILL COMMUNITY A tornado that struck Clarendon County late Friday destroyed at least 13 mobile homes and heavily damaged 15 others Nine people were taken to area hospitals where four were listed in critical condition although no deaths were reported The estimated damage stands at $400000 Clarendon County authorities said on Saturday The tornado with winds ranging from 100 to 112 mph cut a six-mile long and quarter-mile wide swath across Clarendon County around 9:30 pm with the Hill community being the most heavily impacted said authorities with the National Weather Service On Friday night authorities said only a 57-year-old woman was unaccounted for Early Saturday they learned she had gone to visit family and friends in Olanta this point everyone is accounted said Anthony Mack Clarendon County director of Emergency Operations Clarendon County Fire Chief Frances Richbourg praised emergency response time made a real quick response with the rescue unit and with the engine that responded -SEE TORNADO PAGE 7A TORNADO TIMELINE 8:50 pm The Weather Service in Columbia I Issues a tornado warning for Orangeburg County with the path of the tornado projected toward Clarendon County Sr -f i 1 9:31 pm The NWS isv sues a tornado warning for Clarendon County 4 v' i i 9:34 pm Clarendon I I County dispatch alerts the Clarendon County Fire De-' I partment to respond to re- ports of overturned mobile homes with entrapment on and Road -b i 9:33 pm Firefighters and emergency medical service 4 personnel arive at and Read and request additional assistance i 10 pm r- The first lance leaves err route to-J Clarendon Memorial Hospital with three patients on board 11:45 jn Famines begin 4 arriving at toe Ramada Inn I Limited for housing RRSEESEC Family photographs from one of in nearby bushes ABOVE: Friday night's tornado destroyed six mobile homes and damaged close to a dozen more in the Hill community of Clarendon Hill neighborhood as the rain continues to fall Friday evening Residents describe minutes By JOE PERRY AND SHARRON HALEY Item Staff Writer's HILL COMMUNITY Residents of this Clarendon County community were taken by surprise on Friday night by the ferocity of the of the tornado that ravaged their neighborhood but that stop them from coming to the aid of their neighbors and some cases using then: bare hands to dig them out of debris and bring them to safety was in the house and I know a storm was said James Martin 37 who was at his home on 1155 and Road with four children was raining and then it stopped and the wind started blowing When I heard it coming I got all the children on the floor and pulled my 3-year-old under me to protect her The wind picked up my double-wide and then dropped it back down on the blocks some of the blocks came through the The storm with winds topping 100 mph was labeled an FI tornado by the National Weather Service It touched down in the community between Manning and Paxville near 261 at about 9-30 According to the National Oceanic and Atmospher County TOP: Firefighters search the of fury Keith Gedamke The Item the victims are scattered 4 INSIDE TODAY ITEM 50 Fntcrtainment ID Obituaries IF Opinion fiA Sports bC Sumter Life IF 7 A 4D IB 1C neighbor Burdy Pringle who lives at 1139 and Road and was quick to use his relatively undamaged home as immediate shelter for his neighbors Pringle said the storm last but a couple He was preparing dinner when heard a whistling sound and the lights went out and I told my wife better get some By the time she bent over and got some candles from the bottom drawer and stood back up the lights went out again and I heard a rumbling And the house it lifted the house and dropped it back see RESIDENTS page 7a ic Administration an FI tornado has winds between 73 and 112 mph and can peel off roofs push mobile homes off their foundations or blow vehicles off the road I went outside I heard these people who hved next door hollering and when I looked there was nothing Martin said and some neighbors started diggmg through the debris and found them under some sheetrofck we think twice about helping When you hear someone yelling you got to try and help them We stuck together and got them Martin was referring to his now in: PUBLISHING COMPANY ttH -d WWWTHEITIMCOM SUMTER LIFE main branch closes after today for move to temporal) location Agriculture Business Classifieds Dails Planner Fducatiou To contact call FNLRAI 774 lit K) 1 YSMHLDS 774 1234 DHIURY 774 1JH MBS SPORTS "71 1226 20 North Magnolia Street Sumter South aiohna (I SPS ViViOOl "90534 00002 Osteon Puttosn ng Co.