Once in "tornado emergency," Knox residents reflect on twister's change in track

KNOX, Ind. -- It was a rainy and chilly day in Knox, not long after chilling images of a large wedge tornado filled the night sky nearby. 

At Birdie's Main Street Cafe in Knox, the morning after the twister, many patrons passed the time by reflecting on how close they came to disaster. 

Theresa Cox lives in Knox and rode out Tuesday night's tornado emergency in her closet. 

Frequent calls from her grandchildren kept her calm as the storm neared. 

"Those babies don't need those disasters for their grandmother," Cox recalled. "They've been through enough. They've lost enough grandparents that they're kind of hanging on to this one."

Kathy Kimmel lives farther east in Starke County. She was mostly unaware of the tornado threat until her sister started sending her screenshots from nearby storm chasers. 

"She sent pictures of the sky, and you could see the tornadoes and the pictures," Kimmel explained. "It was it was pretty scary."

The two friends met up for their monthly lunch Wednesday. 

They said the power of prayer helped the tornado with their towns in its sights take a different track.