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Lafayette native survives being thrown from apartment during Nashville tornado

Lafayette native survives being thrown from apartment during Nashville tornado
Posted at 5:54 PM, Mar 05, 2020
and last updated 2020-03-05 19:11:01-05

A Lafayette Parish native, a musician living in Nashville, is sharing his story of survival.

Thomas Onebane Jr. was thrown from his two-story apartment during Tuesday morning's tornadoes.

"This is the remains of what was Thomas' apartment. It's beyond belief that he lived to talk about this," Thomas Onebane Jr.'s father says, looking at the damage of his son's apartment.

Thomas Onebane Jr., who is a member of the band "Royal Teeth," is back home from Nashville recovering after a tornado destroyed his apartment.

Onebane went to sleep Tuesday night and was woken up by tornado sirens.

"I was going to look out the window to see what truck was coming up the alleyway. Then the lights starting flickering and I felt a jolt in the house. Immediately the windows just blew and seconds later I feel the house start to fall back. And I'm like this is it," says Onebane.

Onebane was picked up by the winds, thrown from his two-story apartment and landed in his neighbor's backyard.

He was able to get up and start walking toward the neighbor's house. The neighbors heard him and brought him inside for shelter.

Onebane says, "I was shell shocked and just shaking uncontrollably in their house with their kids. And that was pretty much it. It all happened in a matter of like 10 seconds."

Although Onebane has to replace most of his belongings and is recovering from a back injury, he is thankful to still be here.

"I'm just psyched to be alive. It was a near death experience and it gives you a new lease on life."

Onebane's band members set up a fundraiser to help their guitar player. You can find that HERE.