NANKIN — Phil Puckett stepped out of his mobile home on June 15 to look up toward the tumultuous skies.
He’d been monitoring the weather, which had been getting hairy for an hour or so. His wife, Beverly, was in town and he was due to pick her up at 8:30 p.m.
“When (the tornado) got the Greenwich and the Willard area, next in line was Savannah. So I called my wife and told her I was coming to pick her up before it got too bad,” he said. It was “a hair” after 8 p.m.
When he picked her up, they stayed and watched the wind and hail from the porch. Then, his sister from Savannah called. She had herself and her family in the basement.
“And she told me Nankin was supposed to be next,” Puckett said, referring to the tornado’s path. He decided to leave his wife behind, where it was safe, so he could inspect for potential damage to their mobile home at the intersection of Township Road 713 and State Route 302.
But the sun had long set, the darkness hiding most of the devastation.
“I aimed the headlights at the front yard. I saw a huge locust tree down across the driveway. I looked around and I could tell leaves were hanging over the front of the house,” he said.
Puckett, 66, then walked inside, searching for leaks. He found one over the kitchen sink, but nothing major. He drove back to retrieve his wife and they came home to sleep through the night.
In the morning, it became clear God had been watching over them, he said.
“There were two full-size trees on the roof. And then there was a third laying on top of them, sticking out 30 feet in front of the house. One of the limbs was 13 to 14 inches around,” Puckett said.
“The weight was phenomenal. I couldn’t believe it didn’t crush it to the ground.”
He said the trees had fallen directly onto the middle of the structure that has served as his home since 1993.
“We give credit to the Lord who was watching over us,” he said.
Puckett’s home wasn’t the only one affected on a short stretch along Township Road 713 in Nankin. Anne Strouth, the county’s EMA director, said around 20 residents were affected by the EF0 tornado on June 15.
“Damage consisted of roof damage to barn damage to garage door damage to uprooted trees to flooding and hail damage,” Strouth said, adding there was one barn that was essentially flattened.
In the days following the storm, friends and family of Puckett’s helped him remove the trees from the house. By Monday, the roof had been cleared, and a couple days after that the roof had been temporarily patched.
With nowhere else to stay, the Pucketts continue to sleep in the house.
His daughter, Ashley Schwan, of Ashland, started a GoFundMe account for her dad and stepmom. The goal is to raise $15,000, the cost to build a small, two-story cabin to replace the mobile home.
“He just doesn’t have that money right now. He’s a traveling evangelist. So his church took up an offering, they got $200 from that,” Schwan said.
The GoFundMe account purports to have raised $295 as of Thursday.
The cabin, Puckett said, will be built by an Amish friend. The $15,000 doesn’t include plumbing and wiring — but those are things he knows how to do and has already received commitments from other friends who are willing to help.
Puckett said he was unsuccessful years ago in getting his house insured. On a fixed income with a bad back, he is thankful for the outpouring from the community.
“I didn’t want people to think I’m taking advantage of people,” he said, adding he was wary of his daughter’s idea of starting a GoFundMe account but that he agreed when his daughter reminded him that God might supply the financial need through the online fundraising platform.
“The Bible says to put works with faith. I have faith God will supply the need. So we’re starting to pack now. We don’t have a storage unit, so I don’t know what we’ll do when we get everything packed … we’re not gonna sit and wait until we get the money. We’ll move on with it and God will provide. That’s just our faith, it’s what we believe,” he said.
