"What do you do?” Tornado destroys Alabama family's home and business

Record ID: 1706604

  • Title: "What do you do?” Tornado destroys Alabama family's home and business
  • Date: 15th January 2023
  • Summary: PRATTVILLE, ALABAMA, UNITED STATES (JANUARY 14, 2023) (REUTERS) (PART MUTE) AERIAL VIEW OF DARYLE AND SHAWNA LITTLETON’S DESTROYED HOME AND BUSINESS, LITTLETON’S OUTDOOR LIVING (MUTE) VARIOUS OF FAMILY AND FRIENDS CLEANING DEBRIS FROM THE PROPERTY (SOUNDBITE) (English) DARYLE LITTLETON, OWNER OF LITTLETON’S OUTDOOR LIVING AND PRATTVILLE, ALABAMA RESIDENT, SAYING: “You know, I thought I had it bad, you know, all the devastation, you know. But when the reports started coming in, they were telling me how many lives got lost. You know, that, that was just heart-wrenching, to know that many people lost their lives right here in this community. It’s just, we’re lucky. Real lucky." VARIOUS OF DARYLE LITTLETON EATING FOOD DONATED BY COMMUNITY MEMBERS AND TALKING TO PEERS AERIAL PAN SHOWING THE LITTLETON’S DESTROYED HOME AND THE SHOP FOR LITTLETON’S OUTDOOR LIVING (MUTE) (SOUNDBITE) (English) DARYLE LITTLETON, OWNER OF LITTLETON’S OUTDOOR LIVING AND PRATTVILLE, ALABAMA RESIDENT, SAYING: “It looked like the tornado was going up. But once I saw debris coming up behind my house, I knew it was there. So we were inside, you know, the storm pit. It had some glass on the door, but it has a steel grate. But when I saw the debris, I just there was two wooden angels. I grabbed them, put them up against the glass, and just told her, ‘Hang on.’ I mean, it was something I don't want to go through again. I mean, that bus is actually a bus buried in the ground. And when you're standing there, the pressure change was so hard in it that our ears pop, you really couldn't hear much. but the floor was shaking in the bus and that was scary.” VARIOUS OF DARYLE LITTLETON’S STORM BUNKER VARIOUS OF MAN BULLDOZING DEBRIS FROM DARYLE LITTLETON’S WORKSHOP CLOSEUP OF WORKSHOP’S EXPOSED INTERIOR (SOUNDBITE) (English) DARYLE LITTLETON, OWNER OF LITTLETON’S OUTDOOR LIVING AND PRATTVILLE, ALABAMA RESIDENT, SAYING: “The first time we got hit, you know, it was the F1 (tornado), but it only took the house, you know, that was bad. But I still had my business, you know, I could still go to work. This time, soon as I come out and I walked around, I saw the shop and all my work trucks and tools gone. I mean, it was just shot. I mean, what do you do? I've never had to deal with this part of it, through a business, you know, with your customers. And that's how you make your money. That's, that's how you make your living right there and it's just gone.” PAN OF THE BACK OF DARYLE AND SHAWNA LITTLETON’S HOME DARYLE LITTLETON SPEAKING WITH MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY SHAWNA LITTLETON SPEAKING WITH MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY (SOUNDBITE) (English) SHAWNA LITTLETON, TEACHER AT AUTAUGA COUNTY TECHNOLOGY CENTER AND PRATTVILLE, ALABAMA RESIDENT, SAYING: “Yeah, and some people have said, you know, ‘Third time's a charm.’ Put a third place here and we should be good. And then somebody else said, ‘Third time can be fatal.’ We just don't know, you know, what the future holds and we don't really want to go back through the same thing again. So we're just kind of playing it by ear to see what we're going to do.” VARIOUS OF SHAWNA LITTLETON SPEAKING ON THE PHONE VARIOUS OF FRONT OF DESTROYED HOME (SOUNDBITE) (English) SHAWNA LITTLETON, TEACHER AT AUTAUGA COUNTY TECHNOLOGY CENTER AND PRATTVILLE, ALABAMA RESIDENT, SAYING: “It, to me it just seems weird that it, it's happening more in the winter like this. This isn't what we would typically have as tornado season. So, I guess my biggest issue is just the fact that it seems to be occurring more often on the off-seasons.” VARIOUS OF DARYLE LITTLETON DRILLING AN AMERICAN FLAG INTO A POLE (SOUNDBITE) (English) DARYLE LITTLETON, OWNER OF LITTLETON’S OUTDOOR LIVING AND PRATTVILLE, ALABAMA RESIDENT, SAYING: “Like I said, just the outreach of the community was just amazing to me. You don't really know how many friends you got ‘til something like this happens. [voice breaks] And I'm thankful.” VARIOUS OF THE LITTLETON FAMILY DOGS CAGED IN A YARD FULL OF DEBRIS VARIOUS OF FRONT OF LITTLETON’S DESTROYED HOME AND BUSINESS (Production: Evan Garcia)
  • Embargoed: 29th January 2023 01:01
  • Keywords: alabama alabama weather prattville alabama severe weather tornado
  • Location: PRATTVILLE, ALABAMA, UNITED STATES
  • City: PRATTVILLE, ALABAMA, UNITED STATES
  • Country: US
  • Topics: Disaster/Accidents,North America,Wind/Hurricane/Typhoons/Tornadoes
  • Reuters ID: LVA001255914012023RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Residents on Saturday (January 14) continue to assess the damage done by deadly tornadoes that ripped through Alabama on Thursday.
    In the town of Prattville, Alabama, husband and wife Daryle and Shawna Littleton were clearing debris after a tornado destroyed their home and the workshop of Daryle Littleton’s contracting company Littleton’s Outdoor Living.
    This is the second tornado to damage the Littleton’s home since they moved to the property in 2003.
    “The first time we got hit, you know, it was the F1 (tornado), but it only took the house, you know, that was bad,” Daryle Littleton said. “But I still had my business, you know, I could still go to work. This time, soon as I come out and I walked around, I saw the shop and all my work trucks and tools gone. I mean, it was just shot. I mean, what do you do?”
    At least six people were killed in central Alabama on Thursday as thunderstorms and at least one tornado swept through the region, local officials said.
    When the tornado hit, Shawna Littleton, a schoolteacher, was with two of their children at a nearby school, while her husband Daryle was hunkered down with their daughter in a partially underground bus Littleton built as a bunker next to their home.
    “But when I saw the debris, I just, there were two wooden angels. I grabbed them, put them up against the glass, and just told her, ‘Hang on,’” Daryle Littleton said. “I mean, it was something I don't want to go through again.”
    Shawna Littleton is unsure if the family will stay on the property now that a second tornado has destroyed their home and her husband’s livelihood.
    “Some people have said, you know, ‘Third time's a charm.’ Put a third place here and we should be good,” Shawna Littleton said. “And then somebody else said, ‘Third time can be fatal.’ We just don't know.”
    Autauga County Coroner Buster Barber said that at least four people had been killed by flying debris hurled by the tornado. Barber said he had no further information on the deceased.
    Alabama Governor Kay Ivey on Thursday declared a state of emergency for six Alabama counties hit hardest by the storm: Autauga, Chambers, Coosa, Dallas, Elmore, and Tallapoosa.
    The high winds and heavy rain damaged homes and left tens of thousands of customers without power in parts of Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama.
    (Production: Evan Garcia)
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