Tulsa Worker Recounts Getting Caught In EF-2 Tornado

A worker for Oklahoma Disaster Restoration was caught outside as Sunday's EF-2 tornado barreled down on him.

Damage inside Oklahoma Disaster Restoration is upwards of $400,000.

"I'm blessed to be alive," said Rogers Marshall, a father of four with an infectious smile. "Just the sound of the wind going by you is just crazy." 

He finished work and was about to head home to his wife.

"I pull in here, like I said it's just raining, I park in front of the fence which is closed and locked," he said.

The rain intensified.

"I thought, 'just a summer storm, nothing much, it will blow over," he said.

He glanced in his mirror. 

"And that's when I looked back, and I noticed the trees," he said.

The trees were bending over.

Marshall knew he was in trouble.

"At that point I'm thinking, 'I need to get out of this vehicle,'" Marshall said. 

He opened the door and ran

"As I'm running, it's now starting to be small little debris," Marshall said.

Debris peppered him and he was airborne.

"I take a step and I feel myself lifted as I'm running," he said. 

The wind threw him in to the glass, he said.

Marshall, pinned by the wind, saw buildings get torn apart. 

"I'm up against the window, and debris is just coming at me," Marshall said.

He saw equipment come flying over a building. It smashed a wall heading straight at him.

"I'm watching it tumbling towards me, hits me, bows the window in," Marshall said. "Shatters in my back, I fall to the ground, it knocks me out ... When I wake up, there's all this debris over me."

He was hurt.

"I'm gashed open on my arm, my head is cut and gashed open," Marshall said.

But when he gets inside, his first thought is to tell his boss the building is damaged.

"He's one of those that really keeps the whole crew upbeat," said Tammy Stokes.

Thankfully he's OK.

But with his only car a total loss, he said it's still hard to believe he escaped with his life.

"Once you've been in something like that, you'll never, never forget it," Marshall said.

You can visit Marshall's GoFundMe page for a new car at www.gofundme.com/RogersNewCarFund