Tornado Safety and Preparedness

Three Kittens Pulled From Cedarville, Ohio, Tornado Debris

It might be the world’s most adorable rescue: After an EF3 tornado roared through Cedarville, Ohio, a local meteorologist pulled a shivering kitten out of the debris of a damaged home.

(MORE: Tornado Damages Cedarville, Ohio)

Rich Wirdzek, a meteorologist with WHIO’s Storm Center 7, was surveying storm damage on the Dobbins family’s property in Cedarville when he heard a tiny mewing from underneath the rubble. Wirdzek and crew quickly scooped a filthy, traumatized kitten out of the debris, wrapping her in a jacket and keeping her warm in their news truck.

After getting a clean bill of health at the Docton Animal Hospital, the kitten was reunited with the Dobbins family, who named her Twister.

But the calico wasn't the only one in harm's way. The kitten was just one of a litter recently born in the Dobbins' barn, which was destroyed along with two other homes on the property.

Amazingly, while cleaning up the property, the family found two other kittens alive in the debris. The Dobbins have named them Lucky and Storm.