"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: “
  • 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)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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