Twelve-Year-Old Takes Photo Of Hugo Tornado
By Deb Barnes
HUGO - Unbeknownst to his grandmother, Jean Moody of Hugo, 12-year-old Shawn Ritchie took a moment to snap a picture of the tornado that swept through Hugo on May 25.
Jean and her husband, Bob, who live just north of 165th Street on the east side of Forest Blvd., were watching the storm's progress with some trepidation.
"We don't have a basement," she said. At the last minute, she said, the tornado turned to the south.
"The day after, [Shawn] showed it to me. He said, 'Grandma, I got a picture of the tornado with my cell phone!' and I said, 'WHAT?'
"He was so excited. I told him it was kind of dangerous, but that he did a fantastic job.
"Ritchie attends John A. Johnson Elementary School on the east side of St. Paul.
Moody said she was compelled to share the picture "so that people are aware, when they hear those sirens, don't come out of the basement. Living up here, being rural, we have all this open space. It can be very scary."