Billings says storm was 'expensive 12 minutes'

That family stayed at the home of the father's boss. The Tuellers used the Internet to get a great deal on a hotel room. So many people pitched in that the American Red Cross shelter at Independence High School had no takers.

"We had six volunteers and two staffers manning the shelter until 9:30 Tuesday night, and nobody came for help," said Garr Judd, director of the Mountain Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross. "It's typical in this community that neighbors and (LDS Church) ward members help out those impacted. We shut down."

Million Air employees tried to save the two planes in their care that were on the tarmac.

"It appeared to me the storm was gathering water out of the lake as it came across the lake," Mendenhall said. "It was reminiscent of a tornado."

Workers got the first plane into a hangar but were forced to stop after hooking up the second because the storm had already reached the runway.

Mendenhall ran to the switch that closed the hangar's massive door — 20 feet by 70 feet — but the wind blew the door up, down and up again before the storm lifted it onto the roof, where it bounced across the top of the hangar and fell off the other end of the building.

For a few moments, Mendenhall thought the door would land on the girder he was using for protection, but only one of his employees suffered bruises; he was blown against a fence.

Remarkably, the plane in the hangar survived without a scratch. The story was the same for city residents — nobody sustained serious injuries.

"It's a miracle," Billings said, "and then some."

Help arrived from electric and public works crews from Logan, Bountiful, Heber, Murray, Lehi, Payson, Springville and Spanish Fork.

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. visited Provo on Tuesday night, and state appraisers started at the airport at 7 a.m. Wednesday and made their way through the city.

Billings asked residents to be cautious during the cleanup and urged volunteers and those who need help to call 211. The United Way of Utah County is fielding the calls and matching people with needs to those who have experience with chainsaws and pickup trucks, United Way president Bill Hulterstrom said.

"Our goal," Billings said, "is by midnight Thursday to have power to all our residences back on, but there is still some serious, major pole and line damage."

Crews worked through the night both Tuesday and Wednesday, with workers on 16- to 18-hour shifts.

"We're going to do in days," Billings said, "what would normally take weeks and weeks."

The supercell tore a diagonal swath through Provo from the west end of Center Street and the airport down and across the city to the Provo Towne Centre and East Bay Golf Course and into Springville.