'I'm blessed my family is still alive' - Relative of Mississippi tornado survivors sifts rubble

Record ID: 1717375

  • Title: 'I'm blessed my family is still alive' - Relative of Mississippi tornado survivors sifts rubble
  • Date: 27th March 2023
  • Summary: ROLLING FORK, MISSISSIPPI, UNITED STATES (MARCH 27, 2023)(REUTERS) MAN WHOSE FAMILY LOST THEIR HOME IN THE TORNADO, ARMON ANDREWS, SIFTING THROUGH DEBRIS WITH HIS FRIENDS ANDREWS LIFTING TIRE AND THROWING IT PAN UP FROM COLLECTION OF ITEMS TO WRECKAGE FROM TORNADO (SOUNDBITE) (English) MAN WHOSE FAMILY LOST THEIR HOME IN THE TORNADO, ARMON ANDREWS, SAYING: “This is my home here that I’m living at, 317 Walnut Street (unclear). I can say, after contacting my parents two days after all of this happened, which was on yesterday, I was told [PAN TO DESTROYED HOME] that they took shelter up in the hallway, which was supposed to be right here where all this debris and everything is, and they was able to go into two other rooms and get two mattresses out to actually cover their heads and things of that nature to keep them safe.” ANDREWS LIFTING ASIDE MATTRESS WHILE HIS TWO FRIENDS, SHONESSEY MATTHEWS (PURPLE HOODIE) AND AN UNIDENTIFIED FRIEND SIFT THROUGH RUBBLE BEHIND HIM (SOUNDBITE) (English) MAN WHOSE FAMILY LOST THEIR HOME IN THE TORNADO, ARMON ANDREWS, SAYING: “My mom was holding on to my nephew who was about five, seven – five, six years old, at the time. His name is Keilan [spelling unclear] Andrews. She said she was holding on to him, but as the tornado came, the wind took them up and spinned them around so my nephew came out of her arms at the time. But the wind through him back into my stepfathers’ arms, who, where he was able to catch him by his leg. And, although he was able to catch him by his leg, pipes and everything else was able to drop down upon him briefly after that.” DAMAGED CAR WITH DEBRIS STREWN AROUND IT (SOUNDBITE) (English) MAN WHOSE FAMILY LOST THEIR HOME IN THE TORNADO, ARMON ANDREWS, SAYING: “They the only thing they could hear my nephew saying was ‘mama, help me, papa help me’. This that or that nature. And you had my sister, who was screaming, ‘get this up off me. Get off me. Get off me’. Because my nephew, I mean my stepfather, he was actually laying on top of my sister at the time. And when they did get everything up off of them and everything, I can say that they was able to get up out of all this mess and able to walk back that way to get back to safety from up under everything.” ANDREWS, MATTHEWS AND ANOTHER FRIEND GOING THROUGH RUBBLE (SOUNDBITE)(English) MAN WHOSE FAMILY LOST THEIR HOME IN THE TORNADO, ARMON ANDREWS, SAYING: “The first thing I say comes to my mind is, I have no home to go to. I don’t know what’s to come from this. I mean, I’m just a college student who’s trying to make it and, as it is, I’m already broke in college, so this actually just makes life harder on me. I mean, it makes me think at times, like, throughout the night, do I still want to be in college.” ANDREWS LIFTING OBJECT WITH HIS FRIEND CALLING OUT (OFF CAMERA) THAT HE HAS FOUND SOMETHING KEEDAE PHILLIPS, A FRIEND OF ANDREWS, HANDING HIM HIS GRADUATION BOOK AFTER FINDING IT AND SAYING ‘CONGRATULATIONS’ ANDREWS FLIPPING THROUGH HIS GRADUATION BOOK (NOT A SOUNDBITE) (SOUNDBITE) (English) MAN WHOSE FAMILY LOST THEIR HOME IN THE TORNADO, ARMON ANDREWS, SAYING: “The only thing I can say now is that I’m blessed that my family is still alive. I mean, a lot of people lost their lives out there, so it’s helpful to me. That’s all I can say.” BOOK AND OTHER DEBRIS ON GROUND (SOUNDBITE)(English) MAN WHOSE FAMILY LOST THEIR HOME IN THE TORNADO, ARMON ANDREWS, SAYING: “I just really would like if my house was rebuilt and we could just start all over again, because if we can get this house built just how it was before it was taken down, it would be awesome because it was memories. And not only that was, my grandma passed away in this house, so, I can’t say that, I didn’t want to lose the house that my grandma passed away in. I can’t.” VARIOUS WIDE SHOTS OF DAMAGE FROM TORNADO WITH FRIENDS OF ARMON ANDREWS SIFTING THROUGH IT (SOUNDBITE) (English) FRIEND OF ARMON ANDREWS, KEEDAE PHILlIPS, 19, SAYING: “Right now I’m just helping out my friend. He lost his home. And I just want to be a good friend, just help him see while he can get if he have to.” PHILLIPS LIFTING OUT TOY CAR THAT BELONGS TO ANDREWS’ NEPHEW PHILLIPS CARRYING BROKEN CABINET ANDREWS LOOKING THROUGH BROKEN CABINET (SOUNDBITE) (English) FRIEND OF ARMON ANDREWS, SHONESSEY MATTHEWS, SAYING: “I’m helping my friend truly because I love him and I wouldn’t want him to do this alone. He’s already lost majority of everything, everything that we can’t save. So I’m helping him truly because I love him and don’t want him to go through any of this alone. And I know that he knows my house is always open to him and, yeah.” PAN FROM RUBBLE TO WIDE OF AREA (SOUNDBITE) (English) FRIEND OF ARMON ANDREWS, SHONESSEY MATTHEWS, SAYING: “It’s very heartbreaking because looking back, like, I have everything, my community have everything. And you come over on this side of town and there’s nothing. So, yeah.” PAN FROM SHOES AND OTHER OBJECTS TO FRIENDS OF ANDREWS ON REMAINS OF HOUSE WIDE OF REMNANTS OF DESTROYED HOME DAMAGED CAR WIDE OF REMNANTS OF DESTROYED HOME ARMON ANDREWS SIFTING THROUGH RUBBLE / PAN TO HIM POINTING WITH WIDE OF AREA DAMAGED BY TORNADO
  • Embargoed: 10th April 2023 21:21
  • Keywords: Mississippi Rolling Fork extreme weather storms tornadoes weather
  • Location: ROLLING FORK, MISSISSIPPI, UNITED STATES
  • City: ROLLING FORK, MISSISSIPPI, UNITED STATES
  • Country: US
  • Topics: Disaster/Accidents,North America,Wind/Hurricane/Typhoons/Tornadoes
  • Reuters ID: LVA001070627032023RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:Armon Andrews wasn’t home when the tornado that killed 26 people in Rolling Fork, Mississippi turned his family home to rubble.
    But other members of his family were, and, as he sorted through scattered debris of his childhood home on Monday (March 27) with the help of a few of his friends, he says he’s just grateful they all survived.
    “I’m blessed that my family is still alive. I mean, a lot of people lost their lives out there, so it’s helpful to me. That’s all I can say,” Andrews, 18, told Reuters.
    The Andrews home on 317 Walnut Street was destroyed along with many of the community’s 400 homes by the powerful twister that ripped through the area and town of 1,900 on Friday (March 24) night.
    Armon, who was coming home from Washington DC when the tornado struck, says his mother told him that the family took shelter beneath two mattresses as the house was being ripped apart.
    The twister lifted his young nephew up in the air, she told him.
    “She said she was holding on to him, but as the tornado came, the wind took them up and spun them around so my nephew came out of her arms at the time,” Andrews said.
    Eventually the family was able to escape and head down the road to safety.
    The tornado has turned the already impoverished town into a disaster zone, and left residents like Armon Andrews questioning their future.
    Andrews, who studies English and is pre-law at Tougaloo College in Jackson, Mississippi, said he is wondering if he should continue with school.
    “I don’t know what’s to come from this. I mean, I’m just a college student who’s trying to make it and, as it is, I’m already broke in college, so this actually just makes life harder on me,” he said. “I mean, it makes me think at times, like, throughout the night, do I still want to be in college.”
    Andrews’ childhood friends, Keedae Phillips and Shonessey Matthews were there to support him as he tried to salvage his family’s possessions from the debris.
    “It’s very heartbreaking because looking back, like, I have everything, my community have everything. And you come over on this side of town and there’s nothing,” said Matthews.
    Matthews, 16, is from a part of Rolling Fork less impacted by the twister.
    Meanwhile, officials in Rolling Fork on Monday mobilized volunteers, organized logistics and opened a mobile hospital to begin the town’s long recovery.
    Some two-fifths of the county's 1,900 homes and businesses were without power on Monday morning, according to Poweroutage.us.
    On Saturday, President Joe Biden ordered federal aid to supplement state, tribal and local recovery efforts in the affected areas.
    (Production: Aleksandra Michalska; Ashraf Fahim)
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