Vacationing Franklin County deputy helped during deadly tornado

Aug. 30--WAYNESBORO -- John McCulloch, a local rookie deputy sheriff, found himself helping fellow campers at Cape Charles, Virginia, when a deadly tornado turned his vacation upside down.

McCulloch, 20, of Waynesboro was one of several vacationing first responders moved to help on July 24 when a tornado and high winds hit the Cherrystone Family Camping Resort on the Delmarva Peninsula. He was among the first to tend to the three people who died in the tragedy.

McCulloch's actions recently came to light when Gov. Tom Corbett wrote to McCulloch's boss, Franklin County Sheriff Dane Anthony. Corbett's Aug. 19 letter includes another written by Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe thanking McCulloch for his help at the campground.

"Deputy McCulloch provided assistance to one of the children and made a difference in that little boy's life," McAuliffe said.

McAuliffe's letter is dated Aug. 11, two days after 14-year-old Lheandrew Balatbat died.

The boy was lying next to his father and mother when a tree fell on their tent at Cape Charles. His parents died immediately.

"I remember the color of the tent," McCulloch said. "I still see the scene."

The storm

In the days before the tornado, McCulloch and his girlfriend, Megan Ott, were enjoying their first trip to Cape Charles. They shared a camper trailer with her parents, Brian and Lynn Ott, among the tall pines. The weather was as good as the crabbing.

On July 24, McCulloch woke up, found it was raining and decided to sleep in when his cell phone went off. He heard a message from the National Weather Service: This is a tornado warning; seek shelter now.

He thought, "I'll keep an eye on things. No big deal."

Three minutes later, Brian Ott was holding the door shut against a powerful wind. Then, the wind and rain stopped.

"It was like someone threw a switch," McCulloh said. "It was almost pitch black outside. I saw a wall of gray, as far as I could see, coming toward us, and I thought it was rain."

The "wall" slammed into the camper and slid it sideways for about 10 feet. Hail, ranging in size from marbles to baseballs, broke windows and peppered the metal sides.

The storm paused and McCulloch and Brian Ott ran out to check on their friends in a camper next door. The two ran back in less than a minute. Baseball-sized hail fell again. Rain was being blown sideways. Pieces of campers flew in the wind.

McCulloch figured the worst had passed when heavy rain was the only noise.

Again McCulloch and Brian Ott went outside to check on their five camping buddies, whose camper had rolled onto its side against a pickup truck.

"We beat on the walls and yelled," McCulloch said. "They were all reasonably okay. One climbed up and opened the door" which faced the sky.

Brian Ott extinguished a fire at the camper's propane regulator before it caused problems.

"Once we made sure everything was reasonably okay, my ears opened up and I heard people screaming," McCulloch said. "I went from victim mode to work mode."

Work

He took off his athletic shorts and pulled on his stain-proof, waterproof long pants. He threw on a T-shirt and his flip-flops. Out of his hammered car, he grabbed a small first aid kit and a "go bag" with food, water, his off-duty handgun and extra ammo. He looped his badge across his chest and made for the screaming.

"They were talking to me in a language I really didn't understand," McCulloch said. "They were pulling at me in a direction about 50 yards away."

He ran full speed to a place where a small group of people were gathering. An off-duty New Jersey police officer and a vacationing volunteer firefighter arrived at the same time, but they had no equipment.

A three-foot diameter tree had fallen on a yellow dome tent.

A woman was on the ground. She had severe head trauma. A thick branch protruded from her chest. McCulloch checked her vitals anyway.

He then looked over at the man half-pinned under the tree. He thought he felt a pulse and prepared to begin cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and checked again. No pulse. McCulloch figured he had felt his own accelerated pulse the first time.

"There was nothing I could do for him," he said.

McCulloch checked the boy lying next to the man. He was taking short, gurgling breaths. Massive head trauma prevented other intervention.

"I tapped his foot, like we are taught to do with little children, trying to talk to him," McCulloch said. "His body convulsed once, and I thought he was coming to. All I did was to stay with that boy for about 10 minutes and tell him everything would be all right. Maybe he heard me, Maybe he didn't. I'll never know."

After kneeling with the boy for about seven minutes, McCulloch heard emergency personnel trying to cut away trees to get into the campground. He briefed the two nurses, the paramedic and Maryland deputy sheriff who had made their way to the Balatbat's campsite.

"There was nothing else I could do," he said. "I packed my bag and went from campsite to campsite for the next three hours doing basic triage. There were no other casualties. Cuts. Bruises. People banged up. Easy stuff."

He met a local deputy sheriff who told him they were dealing with a mass casualty incident. Staging areas were assigned to those critically injured, the walking injured and everyone else. McCulloch helped direct campers to the right spots.

He finally went to the staging area and found that Brian Ott and three or four other people had been bitten by a rottweiler while trying to get the dog out of the rolled camper. Animal control eventually sedated the animal. Brian Ott was treated for several puncture wounds on his hand.

McCulloch realized around 4 p.m. that he had not eaten.

Devastation

McCulloch figures he had a three-minute warning of a storm that lasted about five minutes.

Initial reports noted two deaths and 36 injuries from an EF-1 tornado. It began as a waterspout over the bay and had top winds of 80 to 100 mph. Part of the campground also was hit with 65 to 75 mph downbursts of straight-line winds, according to the National Weather Service.

More than 1,300 people were at the waterfront campground at the time of the tornado, according to Virginia State Police.

Lord N. Balatbat and Lolibeth E. Ortega, both 38, died in the storm. Their son and two daughters were hospitalized, according to a fundraising site for the couple's survivors. Both were born in the Philippines and lived in Jersey City, New Jersey. He was an assistant manager at Walgreens. She worked at Quest Diagnostics. They were married 14 years. The extended family was on an annual camping trip to celebrate her birthday.

McCulloch recalled walking past their campsite earlier in the week and hearing the tune "Happy Birthday to You."

Aftermath

"I didn't sleep for the next night or two," McCulloch said. "I was still in the active mode."

The following week McCulloch was off to a training exercise in Alaska with the Maryland Air National Guard where he is a crew chief on the A-10 "Warthog."

The governor of Virginia sent him a letter saying that McCulloch a "true hero."

"I'm not claiming to be anybody special," McCulloch said. "I did what I hope people are supposed to do in this profession."

"We are just proud of what he did," Sheriff Anthony said. "He's very knowledgeable and a very hard worker."

Anthony said his deputies often are the first people to arrive at a medical emergency. They receive first responder certification in their initial training.

"I'm angry and mad I wasn't able to do more," McCulloch said. "I had the training and the equipment and was limited in what I could do. That's the comfort I get: At least I was able to do something. That, and a bunch of strangers came together to do something."

Jim Hook can be reached at 717-262-4759

Copyright 2014 - Public Opinion, Chambersburg, Pa.