When Brian Brooks got the terrifying call from his wife that she was trapped under rubble following a tornado he didn’t hesitate to rush out and help.
Brooks’ wife and sister were in the candle factory in Mayfield, Kentucky, which was levelled by a tornado on Friday night.
The MMA fighter managed to rescue his wife, sister and others who were trapped.
“It’s a miracle I even found them. I don’t know how it happened,” Brian Brooks told Fox News.
At least 90 people were killed by tornadoes across Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi, and Tennessee Friday night and early Saturday morning.
In Kentucky alone, at least 74 people have died and at least 100 people are missing after “one of the toughest nights in Kentucky history,” according to Gov. Andy Beshear.
The devastating tornadoes left the candle factory in Kentucky collapsed, along with an Amazon warehouse in western Illinois and a nursing home in Arkansas.
Just before Brooks got the call he was at home lying in his bed while his daughter and granddaughter were in a bathtub with helmets, pillows and blankets to protect themselves from a tornado.
The tornado hit Brooks’ street but his house was narrowly missed, as per Fox News.
Then, “I get a phone call,” Brooks, an MMA fighter for 14 years, said.
“It’s my wife. She calls and tells me she loves me, that she’s trapped, and they’re smashed. And she hung up,” Brooks told Fox News.
He jumped in his truck and drove over there to find the candle factory flattened.
“It was like the worst war movie you see on TV. The people that were screaming that you could not see in the dark,” Brooks said.
Brooks knew his wife had been in the women’s bathroom when the tornado hit and started climbing and pulling workers out of the rubble.
Brooks’ sister-in-law, who had been smashed on top of his wife, spotted his colorful shoes and started crying out.
He started pulling at the debris on top of them but had to get through the roof, candle wax barrels, bathroom walls and rafters. Then, “some officers, thank God, they got me a crowbar.”
Brooks was eventually able to get them out and they were taken to hospital.
They returned home Monday “a little banged up, bruised, sore and just a lot of heartache,” Brooks told Fox News.
“They didn’t think they were ever going to see us again,” the MMA fighter said. “I’m so grateful … I just want to say my prayers for everybody who wasn’t so lucky.”
Through such devastating tragedy I’m grateful for miracle stories like these. Who knows how many other lives Brooks saved that day, he deserves a medal.
My heart goes out to those people who lost loved ones over the weekend. May they rest in peace.
Please share.
