Sophomore Aiden Tavits was on a bus to Ohio for a rowing regatta on Friday, the day the tornado hit. Despite not being in town, Tavits learned of the destruction back home as it was happening.

“People on the bus started talking about it. I was texting my friends, I was texting my family. I was like, ‘Hey, is everyone safe?’ And then my dad’s like, ‘yeah, everyone’s safe. Our house is not.’”

At the same time, their sister, seventh grader Linda Tavits, was taking shelter in the Wydown theater.

“I was really, really scared. I was like, ‘I’m gonna die,’” Linda said.

Linda had to walk home Friday afternoon. Many students were stuck at school for hours afterwards due to Wydown’s pick-up policy, which required parents to be present for the student to be released. 

“I’ve never experienced something like this before. I’ve had to go to the basement, but nothing like a tornado [has] really happened,” Linda said.

As for Aiden, he was gone for the entire weekend, returning around 2 a.m. Monday. 

“I was very out of the loop, especially because my family didn’t have power. It was very sparse when they could text me. I didn’t 100% know what was going on until that night, [until] around 9 p.m. ish, [when] I could finally call my dad,” Tavits said.

The Tavits’ house was hit by a tree shortly after the first siren rang out. As of Tuesday, Tavits has not visited their home in person. 

“We have a pretty big tree in our backyard (or we had, I guess it’s gone.) It was around four stories tall and fell straight on our house. Our driveway and backyard aren’t looking too hot,” Tavits said. “[For] the house itself, it’s really just the top two floors that are really bad. I don’t know how much you can tell from the front of the house right now, but from the back, you can tell.”

Tavits and their parents currently stay in a hotel, while their sister stays at a friend’s house. They do not expect to be able to return home until at least the end of the week.