'We don't have enough money to fix all this,' Mayfield family seeks help from local church to rebuild.

Record ID: 1650875

  • Title: 'We don't have enough money to fix all this,' Mayfield family seeks help from local church to rebuild.
  • Date: 13th December 2021
  • Summary: MAYFIELD, KENTUCKY, UNITED STATES (DECEMBER 13, 2021) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PEOPLE FROM LOCAL CHURCH COMMUNITY REBUILDING FAMILY HOME DESTROYED BY TORNADOES (SOUNDBITE) (English) MAYFIELD RESIDENT, GREGORIO RAMOS, SHOWING HIS SISTER'S AND BROTHER-IN-LAW'S HOME, WHICH HE IS NOW HELPING REBUILD, SAYING: "When this happened, they (his sister and brother-in-law with their six kids) were here in the kitchen, and it took the roof off first, and he (Ramos's brother-in-law) thought he could save the door from opening. And he went over there and pushed that door and he tried to hold it. It shoved him off, I don't know, somewhere in here, almost knocked the wind out of him, and he finally got up, and told his family to come." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE REBUILDING HOME (SOUNDBITE) (English) MAYFIELD RESIDENT, GREGORIO RAMOS, SHOWING HIS SISTER'S AND BROTHER-IN-LAW'S HOME, WHICH HE IS NOW HELPING REBUILD, SAYING: "This is the kitchen. They were... they were here, but then they heard noise was going off, so they came over here, and they stayed... I'm not really sure which hallway, which closet they were stayed in, that one or this one right here. But at that time, they lost one of the kids. They got six family. Six kids. So, they lost one of the kids. They couldn't find it after the tornado was gone. So, here he (Ramos's brother-in-law) started looking in the dark, and he found one of the girls. One of the girl, she was standing right there, in this bedroom, and she almost got knocked down with this. It was standing right beside her. So (she) almost got killed, really." MAYFIELD RESIDENT, DESTROYED HOME OWNER, MOTHER OF SIX KIDS, ALEJANDRA LOPEZ RAMOS, SISTER OF GREGORIO RAMOS, CLEANING UP HER PROPERTY (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) MAYFIELD RESIDENT, DESTROYED HOME OWNER, MOTHER OF SIX KIDS, ALEJANDRA LOPEZ RAMOS, SISTER OF GREGORIO RAMOS, SAYING: "We heard a loud noise. My husband said: 'it comes, and we protected the children. We hid in a closet. We heard a noise, and we ran out; I grabbed my baby. We were in the closet, and we listened to many intense noises in the house. It is very terrible what happened. I thank God, thanks to him, we were able to escape. he protected us from this awful thing. I am grateful to God because I did not lose any of my children or my husband." LOPEZ RAMOS LOOKING AT HER DESTROYED HOME (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) MAYFIELD RESIDENT, DESTROYED HOME OWNER, MOTHER OF SIX KIDS, ALEJANDRA LOPEZ RAMOS, SISTER OF GREGORIO RAMOS, SAYING: "We lost our stuff; we lost everything. This is going to take a lot of money. We don't have enough money to fix all this." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE REBUILDING LOPEZ RAMOS'S HOME (SOUNDBITE PARTIALLY OFF CAMERA) (English) MAYFIELD RESIDENT, GREGORIO RAMOS, SHOWING HIS SISTER'S AND BROTHER-IN-LAW'S HOME, WHICH HE IS NOW HELPING REBUILD, SAYING: "It's it's amazing how Mother Nature works. It can happen just like that. So, it's really... it's really devastating what really happened. It's not over yet. The impact is still in, but it will take time to get where we need it to be." CHILD HELPING CLEAN UP PROPERTY (SOUNDBITE) (English) MAYFIELD RESIDENT, JESUS TEHANDOA, 9, WHO CAME WITH HIS PARENTS TO HELP REBUILD HOME IN HIS COMMUNITY, SAYING: "It felt very scary, and my brother started crying, and we held him up to calm down, and we talked to our cousin, and they told us another storm was going to come. But my family didn't care, and everybody in there got lucky. because it didn't come (to our house)." (SOUNDBITE) (English) MAYFIELD RESIDENT, ELIJAH HERNANDEZ, 8, WHO CAME WITH HIS PARENTS TO HELP REBUILD HOME IN HIS COMMUNITY, SAYING: "And my family's all OK, just my backyard is all messy and the fence is gone. And we had a baby bunny, we had bunnies, and they had baby bunnies, but now it's dead. It was, it looks like you were just born and it is... it's gone." PEOPLE REBUILDING HOME PAN FROM KITCHEN TO HOLE IN ROOF IN ONE OF ROOMS BEDROOM VARIOUS OF DESTROYED PROPERTIES FILMED FROM VEHICLE VARIOUS OF WORKERS FIXING POWER LINES VARIOUS OF KENTUCKY NATIONAL GUARD VEHICLES, SOLDIERS, AND SIGNAGE VARIOUS OF POLICE VEHICLE VARIOUS OF WIDE VIEW OF MAYFILED AND 'MAYFIELD' SIGN
  • Embargoed: 27th December 2021 23:05
  • Keywords: 100 people feared dead 200-mile path Kentucky South U.S. Midwest demolishing homes levelling businesse rubble survivors tornadoes
  • Location: MAYFIELD, KENTUCKY, UNITED STATES
  • City: MAYFIELD, KENTUCKY, UNITED STATES
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Disaster/Accidents,United States,Wind/Hurricane/Typhoons/Tornadoes,Editors' Choice
  • Reuters ID: LVA001F7VHGEF
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: When local church community offered to help rebuild Alejandra Lopez Ramos's home after it had been destroyed by tornadoes that ran through Mayfield, Kentucky, last Friday (December 10), she couldn't believe her luck.
    "We we lost everything," Lopez Ramos, a mother of six young children and an immigrant from Guatemala, said during a cleanup of her home on Monday (December 13). "This is going to take a lot of money. We don't have enough money to fix all this."
    The barrage of tornadoes that tore through six states killed at least 74 people in Kentucky, officials said, as those fortunate enough to survive unscathed opened their doors to victims whose homes were destroyed, and hundreds of the suddenly homeless took refuge in shelters.
    The death toll was likely to rise as 109 people remained missing, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said.
    Some 28,000 Kentucky homes and businesses still lacked power.
    The tornadoes, which the governor estimated damaged or destroyed 1,000 homes, surprised people by striking unusually late in the year during cold weather on Friday.
    The dead, including at least six children, ranged in age from 5 months to 86 years old.
    Lopez Ramos hid in a closet with her husband and six kids when the tornadoes arrived.
    When the tornado was over, they couldn't find one of their daughters, who was hiding in an adjacent bedroom.
    "It is very terrible what happened," Lopez Ramos said. "I thank God, thanks to him, we were able to escape. he protected us from this awful thing. I am grateful to God because I did not lose any of my children or my husband."
    (Production: Alan Devall, Aleksandra Michalska)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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