Storm Story ( Part 4 )
As I was reading over the last few notes I noticed a few more things that I should probably mention.First of all when I said that Arron went back to help after he came and told us that Mr. Boyd was going to come for us. That was wrong, he stayed with us. My mother reminded me of that when she read over it. Second of all I think it's important to note that Mr.King had also gone to help the Lees right after the storm, and had come back with my dad ( or shortly after ) to help us all get to the Boyd's safely.
I've talked to some of the Lee's for many long hours about the night the storm hit. And although they were in a separate house, their story is very similar to ours, only probably a lot scarier. Abby Lee ( who is one of my best friends and I love her dearly, as I do all of the Lees ), told me about her point of view. So that's how I'll start off.
Mr. Lee had gotten off of work early that day and was able to spend a little extra time with his family. ( By the Way I noticed that on Mrs. Sherry Lees blog she talked about how Mr. Lee got to spend a lot of time with his family Easter weekend, the weekend before the storm. They were able to celebrate together the most wonderful occasion any christian family can share, the resurrection of our Jesus. And this was posted before the storm. Isn't it nice how the Lord provides those little things for us to enjoy, little moments for us to remember each other by. )
Abby also told me that Tiffany, the oldest girl, had been going to take a run just about ten minutes before the storm hit. But Mr. Lee stopped her because he knew the storm was coming, probably saving her life.
Abby said she had seen the storm from the kitchen window. And since their house was somewhat on the bottom of a hill, when she saw it, it must have either been on top of us or had just passed us. She described it as a big gray cloud stretching from the sky to the ground, and said she couldn't see passed it on either side. But you could see a cloud of debris at the bottom. I think at this point it was too close to them for any of them to see an actual spin. At that point she announced that it was coming and ran into the den with her family.
Some of the boys ran upstairs to get blankets to lay over everyone. On their way back down however the storm was already upon them. If I understood correctly, most of them made it back into the room but the last one ( they've told me who it was but I can't remember ) was sucked out slightly along with the door and then thrown back in. I'm guessing that this is around the time the house began to collapse. I was told that Mr. Lee threw himself over Jordan, his oldest son and I believe one of his sisters was under Jordan as well. I'm sure Mr. Lee was attempting to protect as many of them as possible. Tiffany had a few of the little ones underneath her. I'm not sure where all the little ones were but when it was all over, they were unharmed and were able to climb out safely.
I heard Jesse say just last night that when he was talking to some of the Lees about the storm, Josh had said that when the windows got sucked out it sounded like a plunger sucking them out in one piece, frame and all. Some of the girls told me that when the house fell on top of them it felt like a lot of pressure pushing down on them.
I don't have many details other than that because I wasn't actually in this house when it hit. But I do know that two of the older girls were able to climb out, one of them was Abby who said that she was able to push things off of her and climb out. The little ones were safe as well and were able to climb out along with the girls and a few of the older boys. The ones who were trapped were Jordan, Tiffany, Emily, Jacob and Mr. and Mrs. Lee. Mrs. Lee was in a pocket and unharmed, she just couldn't climb out from where she was. And I don't know how but she ended up with Mr. Lee's bible on her chest.
I'm not sure exactly what order things happened in next but I know that Johnny and Josh went for help and Abby and her sister Beth were taking care of the little ones.
Jesse told me that he had gone to see if anyone needed help before he ever met Josh or Johnny on the road. But somewhere along the way he saw Josh and Josh told him who was trapped and who was safe. So then Jesse headed to the Lees and Josh ran on to find more help.
This is what Jesse told me happened from his point of view:
When he got to the Lees, Beth and Abby were out along with all the little ones. I'm not sure if he talked to the girls but he did say that he shouted to Jordan and could barely hear him. He was able to tell Jesse who was safe and who needed help immediately.
At this point there were many people there helping and all of them were willing to do whatever it took to get the Lees out. I only know a few names however and only a few points of view, so I'm going to stick mostly with Jesse's. Hes one of the only ones who has told me in detail what he went through that night.
Oh and before I go on, I was told by many people who were there that, before Mr. Lee passed, when everyone was still trapped and waiting for help. He had said a quiet prayer for God to keep his family safe. I only wish I could have seen his face when he met Jesus. And when Jesus told him "Look. I am already bringing help to your family. I am keeping them safe."
As far as I know Jesse along with Stephen and his younger brother Michael Boyd, Arron, Mr. King, my dad and some other neighbors who had come to help were there at first.( Abby said that when she saw those men come over the hill, it was the best sight shes ever seen ) And according to most everyone I've talked to about it, Jesse was able to take the lead. God had been preparing him for this ( he along with my dad have been volunteer firefighters for a while now and he has taken some very useful medical classes and became a first responder), because He knew that Jesse would need to be able to be there in order to help save lives. And that is why all of those men were there that night, because God lead them there to do His will.
From what Jesse said, he had to dig a hole to get them out, ( I think it was probably more like a tunnel ) which took a long time in and of itself, although the tunnel into the rubble was not very long at all. My father said that as he stood and watched from outside the rubble he thought that if it collapsed it could kill everyone trying to get the Lees out. And it very well could have collapsed. But it didn't.
Jesse said that at first Stephen Boyd and my father were right behind him, helping dig the hole and pull things out of the way. When they got far enough in ( they were on their hands and knees and sometimes stomachs crawling ) they reached Jordan Lee and his father. Mr. Lee was pulled out first and then Jordan was helped out. Jordan couldn't walk at first from what I understand but as soon as he could he began to help dig the others out. Jesse was at the head of the hole the whole time, and all the others I have mentioned were behind him dragging or throwing things out and doing whatever they could to help.
After much more digging they made it to Tiffany and Emily where they were trapped under their piano. Jesse said that he went to get Jacob out first who was trapped and sort of laying on the back of the piano. The whole time, Jacob was helping him move stuff out of the way, even though he was still trapped. From what Jesse said there was a floor ( the top floor ) and then a wall that Jacobs head was trapped under. His head was stuck between the wall and the piano. So Jesse had to try and prop it up. I believe this is probably the part where he started asking for jacks and those behind him went and found some and passed them back. He said it was very difficult to jack it up at all because there was a lot of weight on Jacobs head. He said he used a bucket for cribbing and eventually was able to left it all up just enough where Jacob could get his head out. And as soon as he did, the bucket was crushed by the weight of the wall.
So Jacob was helped out and went to a little building called the retreat center, which was the only building left standing on the Lees property. This is also where they had sent the rest of the family.
Next Jesse started working on Tiffany who was the closest to him, she was pinned under the piano. ( I was also told that at some point Emily began to sing Amazing Grace and trying to get the others to join in. This is also what the other girls had been doing with the children outside. ) And after much jacking and digging and moving things he was able to wiggle her out as well. And she was carried to the retreat center. After that was Emily, who's legs were up under the piano and after some more long minutes of trying to jack it up and prop it up and jack it up some more and prop it up some more, he was finally able to get Emily out as well. And she too was carried to the retreat center. Now the only person left was Mrs. Lee.
Although she was not that far away it still took some time to get to her but once they did they helped her out as well. I'm not sure what happened to the rest of the men at this point but Jesse said he went to the retreat center to check on everyone. There were a lot of thank you's and I love you's going around. And Jesse made sure that everyone was okay medically. He said that they thought at some point that Jacob wasn't going to make it and at another point that Tiffany wouldn't. Tiffany told me later that she could feel her heartbeat slowing. I think her and Jacob both felt like they might not make it at some point. But they did. Abby told me that at this point she was helping Tiffany and trying to keep her breathing, she said that her breaths were long and slow and there were pauses in between them that were much too long.
After this is when Dad, Arron and Mr. King came back to us. I believe that everyone else went on to other places to see who they could help.
All of the men accept Jordan I think went on to help others, and spent mostly all the rest of the night doing this. Some came to the Boyd's and some stayed out all night. I think they were all mostly going in and out all night long.
Around two in the morning ambulances made it to the Lees and took them all to the hospital.
