News
"God was with us" says Clemmons woman who survived house collapse
Journal photo by Paul Garber
Amber Parker looks through the remains of her Frye Bridge Estates house in Clemmons Friday.
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Published: May 9, 2008
CLEMMONS - Amber Parker knew she was in trouble when the raging storm around her suddenly went silent.
Parker had been following the news about approaching storms Thursday night and knew they were headed toward her home in the Frye Bridge Estates community just outside of Clemmons, when she got up to check on her two-year-old son, Avery.
"All of a sudden everything stopped," she said. "The only thing I could think was 'It's already here,'" she said.
She grabbed Avery and her three-year-old son and headed to the safest spot in the house, a closet underneath the steps.
"My ears were popping so hard I didn't think I'd make it," she said.
Parker said she had just made it into the closet when the house collapsed around her and her children.
They were trapped underneath the rubble in a space not much larger than a foot locker, she said. But they were unhurt. To keep the kids calm, they all sang "The Wheels on the Bus" and "Jesus Loves Me."
"We prayed and we thanked God we were alright," said Parker, who escaped with only scratches and bruises.
Firefighters and neighbors were there in a matter of minutes, working to help pull her and her children out.
She said when she first emerged from the closet space, she felt a breeze and some rain and figured the roof of the home had been blown off.
Then she realized the house had collapsed.
"I was just standing above a tiny pile, and there was nothing left," she said.
The family took shelter at a neighbor's house. She said she was thankful that her children were not seriously hurt.
"God was with us," she said.
Next-door neighbor Chris Ellis was one of the first to arrive at Parker's house after it collapsed. Ellis, 17, a senior at West Forsyth High School, had watched as his bedroom window shattered and the roof of his house was blown off.
He and his family were in the basement of their house when Chris heard someone yelling "We need flashlights." He grabbed a flashlight from his truck and ran over to Parker's house.
When he saw the damage, he thought the people inside must be dead.
"I don't know how they made it," he said.
The roof of the Ellis home was blown off by the storm and the house is unlivable. A house on the other side of Moss Creek Lane also had its roof blown off.
One street over, on Bridge Pointe Drive, a house owned by Ray and Lorinda Whaley was knocked off its foundation.
Ray Whaley said he was in Georgia on business when his wife called.
"She said 'We're in the basement. The house caved in on us," Whaley said.
Lorinda and their four children, ages 18 to 6, had raced to the basement for protection from the storm, Whaley said.
That move probably saved their lives, he said.
Today, he was philosophical about losing the house.
"You know, it's just a bunch of sticks," he said "It could have been a lot worse. No one got killed."
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N.C. Politics
Federal Politics
The Downtown Summer Music Series will begin on Thursday. Ed Bumgardner talks to some of the organizers of the Downtown Jazz lineup, in which a form of music known as "smooth jazz" will play a more prominent role this year.
Thursday's relish stories will appear in the Entertainment section.
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