I was praying God every second not to take me now," said Hutter. When the house came to a stop it was in the neighbor's yard but Hutter was alive.

The debris-strewn scene from the Woodhaven neighborhood in a populous area just outside Gallatin took many tornado experts by surprise. Often the way deadly storms turn out has more to do with human readiness than nature's atmospheric fault-lines, experts say. "Tornadoes shift around just enough so that the society, the people, get relaxed," says meteorologist Tom Grazulis, director of the Tornado Project in St. Johnsbury, Vt."

As the tornado made its way through Gallatin, the city hit the emergency breakers and shut off the power to the entire town to protect it from fires and explosions. The only sound that could be heard was the wailing of tornado sirens and the scream of ambulance sirens racing to get to the...
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