We lost everything! She looked up and saw the huge tornado coming across the parking lot. Their families were forever bonded by the tragedy. The dog just would not leave the house. Then as fast as it started it was over. I survived bruised from head to toe with a broken foot and some lacerations. I looked up and saw the 16 ft garage door bowing inward from the wind. Also the north side of our house was sand blasted with shredded leaves and debris, but the other sides of the house were clean. Haggan planned to celebrate his 52nd birthday the next day by driving his wife home from the hospital. A day earlier, a weather service meteorologist said the Selma tornado may have been on the ground for at least 50 miles. A few windows were broken. My back, head, and lower legs were hit the hardest. AMAZING! Be safe folks. It caused me to shake head to toe, and that shaking continued on from April 12 until the day I met my girlfriend in early August. In addition to tornado and storm destruction, damaging winds spun across the region from Mississippi to Virginia. Her funeral Mass was held St. Francis Xavier Church in LaGrange. Bernice and Alfred Andrews met in high school. We got in the center part of the house when all the doors blew open. When the stores plate glass windows flew in, Fred told the Sun-Times he ran with his son toward the back of the store. It had touched down in Omaha, but the sirens were late and that it has moved out of the park. Its leading edge was as well-defined as a wall. His friend hung onto an oak tree and didn't let go. Authorities there were finding more bodies Friday morning, Coroner Buster Barber said earlier. I was scared, our power went off, we couldn't find our candles but then we found it so I was happy. Some think it might have been a small tornado. We have always been sad that our kids and grandkids did not get to know him.. Even then, hailstones as big as a chicken egg were all over the yard and driveway. Browse 937 tornado victims stock photos and images available, or search for disaster relief to find more great stock photos and pictures. And never judge a man in a pink bathrobe. I was 7 and knew it must be serious. My father went under a large wooden rack where tons of lumber was stored. As it went through our area the entire house felt and sounded like it was in a wind tunnel/sand blaster. Catherine was driving up to the tavern with her mother. It's like there's aliens are getting the leaves!" That corner of the church was still there after it was over. According to the coroner and the below Facebook post, this family lost seven members. zh. Once burned is twice learned. If you survived a tornado or know someone who did, share your story and help save lives. This page offers stories submitted by tornado and hail storm survivors. The entire home shook and we ducked and huddled together. When it was all over, the tornado that hit our town was measured F-4. I thought, oh no, I hope its not a tornado. The door breathed back out. Afraid we might be burned alive if the house, above and beside us, burned. The shingles were nearly gone off my parents' house, the siding had been hammered and splintered, all the north and west windows were broken, and the screens ripped to shreds. The first tornado passed but now the second one was headed our way. Schools had let out early and after school events were either postponed or canceled. At the roller rink before the tornado leveled the building, she told a boy she knew that no matter what happens, dont cry for me. When building began to shake, she was holding the hand of another little girl when she reportedly said, I think Im going to die. More than 300 people attended Christines funeral at Schmaedtke-Tuinstra Funeral Home. He and his family had taken shelter from the storm in a spec-home he was building. Spalding County declared a state of emergency Thursday due to a reported tornado there, officials said on Facebook, urging residents to shelter in place. Turns out the toilet had just been set on the wax ring and caulked to the floor, not one bolt in the slab. The dryer vent had been shattered. McNeill had been planning a fishing trip to Canada in May. Edward Lipski lived at 10012 S, Cicero Ave. in Oak Lawn. An Atlanta Falcons cornerback is giving back to his hometown after it was hit hard when tornadoes made their way through last week. Numerous other branches were on our deck and littering our yard. Tornado victims: Pictures emerge as fears grow it . The tornado cut a path through the woods directed behind the house, maybe 10 feet, and continued until the whole town seemed to have been torn down. To the west/southwest it was pitch black moving towards us quickly, otherwise the sky was blue everywhere else. For me, the sound of the nuclear plant sirens being used as tornado sirens was the scariest. A moment later, just like that, all around me was wind and it got real dark. On Friday, Ivey said she would reach out to President Joe Biden to encourage him to declare a state of emergency. Andy Beshear of Kentucky said the death toll remained 74, but would likely rise with about 100 people still . It leveled several of the brick homes in that neighborhood. The veteran was in the hallway when the roof collapsed and tragically didnt survive. This event was in 2016. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts. The visibility was really poor at this point but I could still see the flashes. She wanted to go to college. My wifes sister and husband got in their inside hallway and rode out the storm as we were describing its location while monitoring the radar on WHIO on TV. When I say involved I was literally standing in the Tornado. She was a nurses aide at Silver Cross Hospital. Tornado victims include 2-month-old, district judge, a father and son, factory and warehouse workers "I'm going to miss her crying in the middle of the night," baby's father said. A tornado damaged businesses Thursday in downtown Selma, Alabama. . I've never felt a house shake and shudder like that and the sound of dirt, debris, whatever else raking the house was unearthly almost. I heard things slamming my house, then the sheetrock overhead fell down and it sounded like my roof lifted and came back down. I rounded the carport and flung open the door and just like I would any other day, kinda flung it behind my back to close it with three fingers, only to have it meet the wind and come back on me. The pressure waves left and we were ok. We had been hugging through the entire event and Terry asked if it was over. I was watching the news. The Selma tornado was rated EF-2, the weather service said. At a Selma . We were blessed and spared that day. Then I realized he was crying- probably shrieking- and I couldn't hear him over the noise of the storm: roaring wind, pounding hail and constant, overlapping blasts and rumbles of lightning. (1940) (a.k.a. Email us at exclusive@the-sun.com or call 212 416 4552. like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TheSunUS and follow us from our main Twitter account at @TheSunUS, 2020 THE SUN, US, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED | TERMS OF USE | PRIVACY | YOUR AD CHOICES | SITEMAP, Annistyn Rackley, nine, was killed after a series of twisters battered her parents home near Caruthersville, southeast Missouri on Friday, Missouri was just one of the states affected by the storms, Volunteers in Defiance, Missouri look for possessions among the pile of rubble, Mayfield, Kentucky was devastated by the killer tornadoes, Tornado chaser finds mysterious 1942 photo of a woman and child that had been blown 130 miles away from home in storm, Harrowing last image of tornado victim Annistyn Rackley, 9, taken to show she was safe before body found in a field, Chilling 999 audio of shameless mum & lover blaming two-year-old boy for Star Hobson's murder after tot stomped to death, Prince Andrew hits out at unintelligible rape accuser Virginia Roberts and claims she 'changes her story, Decatur house fire - 'mom & two little girls' among five family members killed after blaze at their Georgia home, We were confronted by a Bigfoot-like Yowie apeman on our way home from work - it was absolutely terrifying, Ken & Barbie killers Karla Homolka & Paul Bernardo's seven most shocking crimes from 'raping sister to torturing teens', Putin stokes invasion fears by staging huge live-firing tank drills with 1,000 troops on Ukraine border, Landlord slammed by residents after 'SEWAGE' pumped into apartment complex where Netflixs The Circle is filmed, Korean war veteran and Covid-19 survivor Golden Hembry, "some of the worst tornado damage that we've seen in a long time. Semaitis was a draftsman who lived near 100th Street and Sawyer Avenue in Evergreen Park. They were to have been married in October. I could not understand what it was saying but I assumed it meant tornado. Trees were completely stripped of their leaves. Right now, the bigger threat is the flooding due to all of the rain and the rising water level of the Mississippi River. During Codys funeral Mass at St. Geralds Church, Rev. We thought we were in the clear but the night had just begun. My house is white. zb. In those states and Kentucky, at least 37 preliminary tornado reports were recorded in storms that damaged power lines, severed tree limbs and sent debris flying into streets. My father's friend made it out with cuts and bruises. Then it hit me that I was some 80 ft from where the bathroom once stood and was out in the parking lot in front of the shop. My dad and my uncles yelled from the front porch to get into the basement because the tornado was "coming over the mountain.". They lived in LaGrange. It was very upsetting to Terry and I dont mind telling you that I was very upset and worried as well. I wiped the blood from my eyes and saw a 1965 Pontiac Catalina next to me. I remember praying out loud and my hands were shaking. He was carpenter and was on his way home from working a job in Palatine. So I told everybody as usual to take shelter until the lightning stopped. McNeill had spent the afternoon painting a chain link fence at his home on Meade Avenue, when he told his wife, Mary, that he was going to the store to pick up a few things. McNeills son found his fathers car lying wrecked across the street from Fairway Super Mart. I crouched down real low in the driver's seat and just prayed. Two-month-old Oaklynn Koon died in hospital from her injuries sustained in the storms. The Jones & Robinson Families. 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