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Trenton Tornado Survivors: "We're Lucky To Be Alive"

1,364 views · Published 30 April 2013 · 2:44 · Indexed 28 October 2026

Channel: WTVC NewsChannel 9 · 2013 · News & Politics

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by Alyssa Spirato It was two years ago storms made their way throughout the Southeast producing deadly tornadoes that destroyed everything in their path. We just kept praying. I was just saying, I just told God to keep his hands on us and keep us safe, says Lisa Rice.Rice says that's exactly what happened after the EF-3 tornado tore through her Trenton tanning salon.When we came in, we all three just jumped in. My oldest daughter Sky got on the far side, Stormy was in the middle and I got right here on the side. I just put my back to the edge just in case something happened and we just lowered the lid and this was where we were saved, says Rice.It took them a year to get business back to normal in their new salon down the road. In one of the rooms is the same tanning bed that saved Rice's life. Meanwhile two miles down the road, the Smith family shares a similar story of survival.We went to our daughter's bedroom, raised the blind up a little bit to look outside so we could see. The power kind of flickered. Everything kind of turned green and next thing I know we're in the closet basically praying for our lives, says Lisa Smith.Smith huddled in a small closet with her daughter and her then 6-year-old son Camden.At one point in time,  I was actually praying that if we were not gonna make it if God would just take it us all because I really thought that there was some of us that didn't come out of that closet alive, says Smith.But little did they know overcoming the tornado itself was just the beginning.Camden went through right at two years worth of counseling because when we had the tornado here, it just wasn't the tornado came and we were gone. We were evacuated. As we were evacuated we seen things that no child ever had to endure or see. It's tough enough as an adult, but it's even worse for a child to go through that, says Smith.It makes me kind of feel scared. It's like in a horror movie or something, says now 8-year-old Camden Smith.At the end of the day both families are lucky to be alive today.We lost material things, we lost two lives in Dade County but the material things can be replaced. But we all have our lives, says Rice.

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