A British Playboy model cheated death when a 170mph tornado hit her house blowing out the windows and ripping off the roof.
Lora Drammis, 30, was thrown on to her bedroom floor as the twister blew hit her Tennessee home in March.
She had been in bed admiring the lightning storm from her window with dog Araya.
The power had gone out in the neighbourhood but the British native was unfazed because she was used to the weather.
Nor was she unsettled when the tornado-warning sirens later erupted, explaining: “I’d heard the siren plenty of times before”.
Originally from Dorchester, Dorset, Lora had moved to Los Angeles in 2013 to pursue her modelling career, before heading to Nashville five years later.
The severity of the situation hit, however, when she received a sobering text message from her friend with the single instruction: “Hide.”
Outside, a tornado was already embarking on a 50-mile stretch of destruction which would last into the early hours of the following day, tearing through the community.
Others would later charge through areas further east of Nashville, parts of downtown, and through Putnam County respectively, leaving crumbling remnants of businesses, homes, and a historic church tower in their wake.
As a result of the disaster, six people were killed, including several young children, and 73,000 people were left without power for days.
Living alone, Lora clutched Araya and headed for the bathtub – the safest place to be in a tornado.
However, when she opened the bedroom door she was thrown back across the room by the F3 (third most destructive), 170mph twister.
Lora rolled on top of a trembling Araya and held the bedroom door shut with her feet, helplessly listening to her house being destroyed: “It sounded like a nuclear bomb had gone off!”
Once the tornado had passed, her first instinct was to call best friend Kayce McGehee for help, with the little phone battery she had left.
“As I opened my bedroom door, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” Lora reflected.
“It looked like something out of a disaster movie.”
All of the windows had been smashed, and both the kitchen and bedroom were caved in.
The roof had been wrenched from the kitchen, and an entire wall was absent from the right side of her house.
Lora realised that if she had gone into her bedroom rather than the bathroom, she might have died.
Now trapped within the ruins of her home – the doors to her porch impossible to open and the smell of gas seeping into the room – Lora screamed for help.
Thankfully a neighbour heard her and dodged live power lines to free the model, who now believes that she had been mid-panic attack.
Later watching the news from Kayce’s sofa, Lora realised how badly her local community had suffered.
Although her home was teetering beyond repair, she felt “lucky” and wanted to help others.
Lora decided to set up a GoFundMe for her elderly neighbours Winston and Faye Morelock, who had witnessed the demolition of their home of 42 years.
With the fundraiser having now raised more than $12,000, Lora said: “I couldn’t believe how generous people were!
“It’s been wonderful to help give back and I’m so glad to be a part of this community.”