LAKEVIEW, Ohio — Many families in the Indian Lake community are still dealing with the aftermath of the EF3 tornado that killed three people and injured more than two dozen others. A family in Lakeview feels lucky to be alive after what they experienced.
"Literally you're thinking you're gonna die, that you're gonna get sucked out in a tornado, you know your life just flashes in front of you,” Asia Hoffman said.
The foundation is now all that’s left of the Hoffmans' home. Asia said she got a call from her mom Thursday night to tell her they were under a tornado warning.
"My husband was watching the radar and he's like, ‘Oh, it just hooked down towards us,’ and then instantly it said tornado observed,” Asia said.
Their neighbors took a video of the massive tornado as it inched closer. At that point, Asia said she and her husband, Seth, their two daughters and three dogs rushed to leave through the front door.
"But we couldn't open it because the tornado was on us that fast already,” Asia said.
Without a basement, they rushed their family into the bathroom. Asia said she tried holding onto her husband who was holding the walls up as the ceiling was ripped off by the 150 mph winds.
"I had to make the decision to let him go to keep the kids down and he flew out probably about fifty feet,” Asia said.
The Hoffmans are still trying to make sense of how they survived as everything around them was ripped away.
"We were still there but the bathroom we were in was gone, so it doesn't make sense,” Asia’s daughter, Ally, said.
"I was sitting right in front of our toilet, and it flew up and hit my head really hard, but… it just hurts a little, and I don't have any head injuries that bad,” Asia’s younger daughter, Aubrey, said.
Through the emotions of losing almost everything, the family works tirelessly to clean up what they can.
"We were out here for 12 hours every day just trying to coordinate and salvage what we can find,” Asia said.
The Hoffmans said they’re grateful for all the support they’ve received from their community and beyond, from friends and strangers. Asia and Seth continuously said they felt lucky.
"For sure, we're lucky. I got my kids, I got my family," Seth said.
"We had a pretty bad tornado hit us and we survived,” Aubrey said.
If you’d like to donate to the Hoffman family as they work to rebuild their home and lives, click here.