Crawfordsville woman makes it through eye of the storm - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

A Crawfordsville woman was stuck in a line of severe storms that caused widespread destruction in southern Indiana Friday.

"I thought, 'Well, if I'm going to die, I wanted my mom to know how I died'," said Darla Rooze.

That's the reason Rooze says she managed to snap pictures as a funnel cloud descended upon her car after she'd pulled over on Interstate 65 north, heading back from work in Louisville Friday afternoon. Rooze found herself right underneath one of seven funnel clouds she watched touch down around her as she sat along the interstate with her five-year-old dog Chewey beside her in the car.

"I just said, 'Chewey, I think this is it,' 'cause there was a gully beside us and I thought we'd get pushed over," recalled Rooze.

Rooze says when she finally made it up the highway to the Henryville exit, she wasn't prepared for what she saw.

"It was just like I stepped into a war zone and people were yelling that they were all right and they were crawling out from the gas station and a lady was really bad hurt," she said.

Rooze is still shaken up by the experience. She said by the time she reached home, she was just thankful to be here and couldn't yet understand why she survived after coming that close to the eye of the storm.

"There'll be a reason," she said. "It just hasn't come yet."