Three children from an Amish community have been orphaned by the tornado that ravaged Mayfield, Kentucky, over the weekend, their mother found dead not far from where her surviving infant was found crying in shock.
Neighbors of Jacob and Emma Gingerich described making the harrowing discovery in interviews with The Washington Post.
Chris Crawford said he’d ventured out to check on the Gingerichs shortly after the roaring winds had died down Friday night, when he heard the sound of a baby crying.
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The spot where their double-wide trailer had been was now empty, he said, with one neighbor later saying it had “just literally exploded.”
Their 8-year-old son, Ammon, was found standing where the home used to be with no shoes on, crying, while his 3-year-old sister was caught under some debris nearby, but alive.
Crawford said he then followed the sound of the baby screaming to find the couple’s infant son, Ben, clad only in a diaper and laying not far from the wreckage.
The kids were said to be “bruised up some” but otherwise fine, according to Jacob’s father, Abe Gingerich.
Searchers would find the bodies of Jacob and Emma Gingerich a few hours later, along with a red blanket that authorities believe Emma had been using to hold her baby when the tornado struck.
She was discovered a short distance from where the baby was found laying on the ground, crying. Jacob Gingerich was found about 20 yards from where the home had been, caught underneath the frame of the trailer.
The 7-year-old daughter, Marilyn, was also found deceased at the scene, along with 4-year-old Daniel.
With Kentucky’s death toll at 74 as authorities continue recovery efforts, the Gingerich family was not the only one hit by the massive twister. More than a dozen children have been named among the tornado’s victims, devastating entire families from Kentucky to Missouri to Tennessee.
In Dawson Springs, about 70 miles from Mayfield, a 2-month-old girl appears to have become the state’s youngest victim of the tornado.
Oaklynn Charleigh Koon was hospitalized after the tornado blew through her home late Friday, with her family crediting the fact that she had been in her car seat for her survival. But she later succumbed to her injuries, her family announced Monday on Facebook.
“At least I know who will be watching over you up there for me. My dad. God this doesn’t seem real,” Douglas Koon wrote, alongside a photo of the 2-month-old’s tiny hand.
In Bowling Green, 11 of the 15 people killed were from the same two families—and seven of them were kids.
“Our community took a hard hit,” Warren County Coroner Kevin Kirby said while identifying the victims Monday.
The dead were identified as 36-year-old Rachel Brown; 35-year-old Steven Brown; 16-year-old Nariah Cayshelle Brown; 4-year-old Nyles Brown; and Nolynn Brown, who was described as a child but whose age was not specified.
The Browns lived on the same street as a Bosnian family who lost several members in the storm. Alisa Besic was killed along with Selmir Besic and Elma Besic, both described as children. Samantha and Alma Besic, both infants, were also named among the dead.
The outbreak of tornadoes also claimed lives in Illinois, where six people died when an Amazon distribution center took a direct hit, and Missouri, where a 9-year-old girl was among the victims. Annistyn Rackley took shelter in a bathtub along with her two sisters and parents, but the family was carried through the air by the tornado, and the third-grader did not survive, the AP reports.
There were also fatalities in Arkansas and Tennessee, where a father and his 12-year-old son were among the victims. Steve and Grayson Gunn were killed while on a hunting trip in Tiptonville; Steve’s brother-in-law, Jamie, remains missing.
