Couple recounts tornado survival story

ADAIRSVILLE, Ga. — A couple staying in an Adairsville motel can't believe they survived the twister that tore apart their motel room Wednesday.

"We didn't see anything coming, and then all of a sudden the rain and wind hit, and he throws me in the tub," said Amanda Brittian.

Channel 2's Tom Regan spoke with Brittian and her husband, Joe, who is recovering from a broken neck and head injuries at Floyd Medical Center in Rome.

Joe Brittian said he saw the tornado spinning toward the motel, and then rushed his wife into the bathroom tub for protection.

"I saw that, and then, automatically I just wanted her out of the way of it. I didn't know how well the tub would do, but that's what I had always been told," said Brittian.

His wife said the tornado winds blasted her and the tub she was lying in, out the back of the building.

"I remember his hand being on me, and the next thing I know, I (was) going through a wall and the tub's no longer there. When I dug myself up, all I could think of was finding him," said Amanda Brittian.

Joe Brittian was on his back inside the crumbled guest room. Paramedics rushed him to the hospital where doctors performed emergency surgery on his neck. He faces months of recovery. His wife calls him a hero.

"He saved my life. I have no idea how any of us came out of it," she said.

WSBTV