Bathtub saves Wyo. man from tornado
A Thursday, June 7, 2012 photo provided by Andrew Kniss shows a funnel cloud, seen from Kniss's car on Highway 34, near Wheatland, Wyoming. The rare quarter-mile-wide tornado cut a swath across mainly open country in southeastern Wyoming, damaging homes, derailing empty train cars and leaving one person with minor injuries, officials said. The twister was part of a powerful storm system that rolled through parts of Colorado and Wyoming Thursday afternoon and evening, packing heavy rains, high winds and hail. (AP Photo/Andrew Kniss)
Remains of a home sit off of Hightower Rd. SW of Wheatland, Wyo. late Thursday, June 7, 2012, south of Wheatland, Wyo. A rare quarter-mile-wide tornado cut a swath across mainly open country in southeastern Wyoming, damaging homes, derailing empty train cars and leaving one person with minor injuries, officials said. (AP Photo/The Casper Star-Tribune, Dan Cepeda)
Pieces of irrigation pipe are wrapped around a post in front of what used to be a home, late Thursday, June 7, 2012, south of Wheatland, Wyo. A rare quarter-mile-wide tornado cut a swath across mainly open country in southeastern Wyoming, damaging homes, derailing empty train cars and leaving one person with minor injuries, officials said. (AP Photo/The Casper Star-Tribune, Dan Cepeda)
A Thursday, June 7, 2012 photo provided by Andrew Kniss shows a funnel cloud, seen from Kniss's car on Highway 34, near Wheatland, Wyoming. The rare quarter-mile-wide tornado cut a swath across mainly open country in southeastern Wyoming, damaging homes, derailing empty train cars and leaving one person with minor injuries, officials said. The twister was part of a powerful storm system that rolled through parts of Colorado and Wyoming Thursday afternoon and evening, packing heavy rains, high winds and hail. (AP Photo/Andrew Kniss)
Tyler Bebo gathers debris along Ferguson Road after a tornado passed through the area Thursday, June 7, 2012, south of Wheatland, Wyo. A rare quarter-mile-wide tornado cut a swath across mainly open country in southeastern Wyoming, damaging homes, derailing empty train cars and leaving one person with minor injuries, officials said. (AP Photo/The Casper Star-Tribune, Dan Cepeda)
WHEATLAND, Wyo. — Al Love will probably never look at his bathtub the same way again.
As Thursday’s quarter-mile-wide tornado bore down on his house southwest of Wheatland, he stepped into the bathroom, figuring it was the safest place.
He closed the door as the tornado ripped away his roof, leaving nothing but a portion protecting the bathroom.
He hid in his bathtub as the twister raged past.
Love suffered some cuts, but was treated and released from the Platte County Memorial Hospital in Wheatland on Thursday.
This morning he joined a few co-workers and other volunteers at his home, located amidst the tornado’s swath of destruction along Olson Road southwest of Wheatland.
His kitchen stood open to the morning sun, his view through his now blown-out back wall a field of debris.
On his kitchen table, somehow still intact despite the twister’s power, stood a statue of Jesus, a candle, some flowers and a bottle of vegetable oil.
Hanging from a bathroom rafter hung a tie he wore to church last Sunday.
“Do you want me to bring a trailer?” asked one woman volunteer.
“There’s not much left,” he told her.
Love still has something around which to rebuild.
His bathtub.