WILD RIDE

In search of safety, one family finds that a car is no match for an EF-5.

Megan Harrison, ’08, and Chris James relax at home with their sons, Rowan (left), Camden and Gavin. The family narrowly avoided tragedy on May 22 when they drove straight into the storm. Camden was born just over two months after the harrowing ordeal. — Photo by Aaron DuRall, ’11

At 2:59 p.m. on August 7, Camden Christopher James came into the world. Just a few months earlier, his mother was terrified she might not see her baby born.

Missouri Southern alumna Megan Harrison, ’08, was spending a typical Sunday evening playing with the sons of her boyfriend, Chris James, when sirens sounded on May 22.

“I heard them go off, so I stepped outside just to see if I could see anything,” Harrison said. “It looked fine, so I came inside and turned on the news.”

A large storm cell was brewing just outside of Galena, Kansas, not far from Harrison’s west Joplin home.

“I’m kind of freaking out because I’m scared of storms to begin with,” said Harrison, who was 28 weeks pregnant at the time.

She called James and asked him to come home. His mother called and invited the family to her Arbor Hills home, which has a basement. Harrison met James in the garage, where they loaded the two boys — Gavin, 5, and Rowan, 4 — into the car and headed south.

“I could tell (James) thought we should stay,” Harrison said. “I was thinking about the boys, and I was freaking out, so I said we should try to make it to Arbor Hills. It was the wrong decision, obviously.”

A black wall loomed in their path at

Schifferdecker Road and West 20th Street.

“I was telling her I think we’re driving right into it,” James said. “I wanted to turn around at 20th Street, but I was being told, ‘Let’s go, let’s go.’ You don’t argue with a 28-week pregnant woman.”

Debris swirled around them as transformers blew. James made a hard left turn at 26th Street, a turn Harrison said saved their lives.

“I couldn’t even see to drive anymore,” James said.

Harrison, a producer at KSNF-TV in Joplin, knew a car was a bad place to be in a storm. James pulled into a driveway and got out of the car to ask the homeowner if they could come inside. Harrison thought James might fly away.

“He didn’t even make it a couple steps away from the car before the car started rolling backward,” Harrison said.

The car slid about 15 yards, and James hopped in and hit the brakes. As the outer edge of the tornado hit them, debris broke the back glass.

“We looked back there to try and get the kids,” Harrison said. “We both panicked because we didn’t see Rowan in the backseat. I didn’t know if maybe he had gotten out trying to find Chris. Rowan’s always two steps behind Chris.

“Chris is screaming, ‘Rowan,’ and we’re looking around. He had hit the floorboard and put his hands over his head.”

Harrison and James pulled the boys into the front seat and covered them with their bodies.

“The whole time, I didn’t really know what to do besides pray,” Harrison said. “I just put myself over them and prayed for several minutes that we were going to be OK.”

James took another step to protect his family.

“I remember putting my back up against the window in case anything else came flying in,” he said.

The wind and debris continued to hammer the vehicle.

“I heard the screams of Megan,” James said. “You could hear wind and destruction, but I just heard Megan.”

Once the storm was over, they turned out of the driveway and realized how lucky they were.

“We could see just several blocks down from us entire houses were gone,” Harrison said.

“It was like God had his hands over us,” James added.

Downed trees and power lines made it impossible for them to reach James’ mother’s house. They drove back home, the whole way on a flat tire. They had to get home; even without a basement, it was safer than the car.

“I kept thinking, oh my god, we’re in this car, and,” Harrison lowered her voice to keep the kids from hearing, “we’re going to die in this car.”

The stress of their ordeal created more worries for Harrison and her unborn son.

“I remember having my hands on my stomach and thinking, ‘I just want to feel him move,’” she said.

After the storm, Harrison was pulling 12-hour shifts at the TV station. By the second day of that schedule, she started having early contractions.

“I was trying to call the hospital while I was at work one day, and I couldn’t get a hold of anyone. I’m just sitting there in the edit bay just crying because I’m afraid something’s happening,” Harrison said.

When KODE news anchor Tiffany Alaniz found Harrison crying, she made sure Harrison saw a doctor. A couple of days off reduced her stress, and the contractions stopped.

On June 25, Harrison’s best friend threw her a baby shower at the same home they were trying to reach for safety just one month earlier.

Harrison had opened her gifts, finishing with a crib, when her friend asked, “OK, does anyone have anymore presents for Megan?”

“I thought, ‘But I just opened the big one, what else do you have?’” Harrison thought.

James stepped around the corner of the room.

“I didn’t know what he was doing until I saw he had a black box in his hand,” Harrison said. “Then he got down on one knee in front of everyone.”

James started planning the proposal two days beforehand.

“I knew that I was going to ask her to marry me, but I had no idea when,” he said.

The two have yet to set a date, as life continues to be hectic.

As for Gavin and Rowan, they ask about the tornado every day: Why is it cloudy? Why is the wind blowing?

“They automatically associate the rain and clouds with the tornado,” Harrison said. “I try to tell them there’s going to be storms, there’s going to be rain, there’s going to be clouds and hard winds, but that doesn’t mean there’s going to be a tornado all the time. It’s hard to tell a little kid something like that after what they’ve seen.”

As Harrison cradled her newborn son, she admitted she learned one lesson on May 22.

“Definitely don’t get in the car,” she said. “After we were here and everyone was calmed down, Chris said, ‘Next time we listen to me. Next time we listen to Chris.’”

“The whole time, I didn’t know what to do besides pray. I just put myself over them and prayed for several minutes that we were going to be OK.”

Megan Harrison, ’08

Missouri Southern State University alumna who rode out the storm in a car with her family.