A Tennessee mother has opened up about her desperate attempts to find her baby boy after he was sucked into a tornado that destroyed the family’s mobile home.
Sandy Moore, her boyfriend and their two children, aged one and four months, were at their home in Clarksville when the tornado hit and ripped off the roof on 8 December. Ms Moore told local news station WSMV-TV that her boyfriend, who suffered a broken arm during the ordeal, had tried to grab the bassinet where the baby was sleeping but it was lifted by the tornado.
“He was just holding on to the bassinet the whole time, and they went into circles, he said, and then they got thrown,” Ms Moore said.
As the wind howled, she decided to jump on top of her oldest son.
Ms Moore grabbed the child as the walls collapsed and both were crushed under the trailer before she managed to push herself and the boy out. With the help of emergency personnel, the mother-of-two and her boyfriend searched for the baby and they ultimately found him lying in a fallen tree in the pouring rain.
“I was pretty sure he was dead and we weren’t going to find him,” Moore said. “But he’s here, and that’s by the grace of God.”
In the description of a GoFundMe page created to help the family reel from their financial loss, Ms Moore’s sister said that the four-month-old had only suffered minor injuries but had to have his ear glued from a cut
“We are told that he looked like he was placed on the tree gently,” the description read. “Like an angel guided him safely to that spot.”
The family lost their home and vehicle, as well as all their belongings, including the children’s formula and diapers. They’re currently staying in a hotel room as they figure out what the next step will be.
More than $59,000 has been donated to the fundraiser as of Friday evening.
“I will die for my kids,” Ms Moore told WSMV. “That’s not even a question. And my boyfriend would do the same thing,”
Three people were killed in Clarksville and three in Nashville by the string of powerful tornado-producing storms last weekend.
