Tornado causes near-death experience for two North Kingstown girls

NORTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (WLNE) – Two sisters in North Kingstown, one of them a senior on the North Kingstown High School basketball team, had a near-death experience when a tornado hit on Saturday. 

17-year-old Isabella Tarsitano and her friend just left Tarsitano’s house on Dillon Avenue in the friend’s car, after a debate about whose vehicle to take, before a massive tree fell onto the house and Tarsitano’s Truck.  

“If we would’ve taken my car, then I would’ve been in my car probably the amount of time it would’ve taken to hit us,“ Tarsitano said.  

Tarsitano’s truck was badly banged up and the windshield was bashed in by the tree. 

There was also a gaping hole in the house, where the tree fell on the garage and another room where Tarsitano’s 12-year-old sister was standing seconds before the tree smashed through the walls and roof. 

Tarsitano got a chaotic phone call about a minute after leaving the house with her friend. 

“Something like this has never happened here and you hear about it in stories, but never actually [think] it could happen to you,“ Tarsitano. “I feel good about being alive. Like, yeah, it’s unfortunate about the car and the house, but I’m going to keep living and live each day better.” 

The family was left with a destroyed garage and truck and severely damaged room in the house. They are staying with family, while repairs are made to their home.