Couple survives EF-4 tornado only to be trapped in their cellar

Click here for updates on this story

    MELBOURNE, Arkansas (KHBS, KHOG) — A couple in Izard County, Arkansas, survived an EF4 tornado in their cellar.

“It wasn’t long and you heard it coming,” Pam Blevins, who lives in Melbourne, said.

The Blevins family was ready for the tornado that hit their town on Friday.

“We gathered up all four of our dogs and went to the cellar around back,” Blevins said.

The tornado arrived while they were underground.

“When it’s here over the top of you it is just unreal, just totally unreal,” she said.

It took down a tree that fell on top of their cellar door, trapping Pam and her husband inside.

“We tried to get out and was stuck in there,” she said.

They called friends and family, but nobody could get to them.

“He happened to have a pocketknife in his pants and he worked for about an hour and got bolts undone and got the rod out and was able to beat the door open and we got out,” Blevins said.

The Blevins’s home of 15 years was still standing. But many of their neighbors weren’t so lucky.

The county has had crews out all weekend to clear the roads.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.