A 9-year-old victim of the devastating tornadoes that ripped through States including Missouri, Illinois, Tennessee, Kentucky and Arkansas last week was pictured smiling just 15 minutes before the storm took her life.
As per tragic reports in the New York Post, Annistyn Rackley was at home with her parents and two sisters when the tornado sirens began to wail. Her mother and father had chosen a windowless bathroom in their home for their “safe space”, and it was there Annistyn and her sisters cowered while they waited for the tornado to pass.
Unfortunately, the home, in southeast Missouri, was directly in the tornado’s path, and the family were pulled into it.
The children’s great aunt, Sandra Hooker, said: “They were sucked up into the tornado.
“Their house is splintered … there’s debris strewn forever out in the field.”
The New York Post say that little Annistyn was a third-grade student who loved dance, cheerleading, and swimming. Yesterday it was reported that 12 children are among the 74 dead as a result of the tornadoes. That latter number is expected to rise as rescuers comb the debris.
The Rackley family, whose home lay in the Bootheel region of southeast Missouri, were reportedly sucked out of their house and thrown into a nearby muddy field. They were later found by first responders.
Annistyn’s younger sister Avalinn, 7, told doctors and nurses at the hospital where she’s being treated: “I was flying around in the tornado and I prayed to Jesus to take care of me, and he spit me out — and the tornado spit me out into the mud.”
Avalinn suffered a broken vertebrae in her back and was scheduled to undergo surgery yesterday (Wednesday, December 14). The children’s mother Meghan, meanwhile, suffered broken bones, a brain injury, and a large cut.
Hooker revealed that the family had only moved into the area from another local city, Caruthersville, on December 4. They reportedly hadn’t even finished with their unpacking when the tornado hit.
Sadly, the Rackley family are far from the only ones to have found themselves engulfed by this tragedy. Only yesterday did we provide updated reports on Oaklynn Koon, the 2-month-old who had been admitted to hospital on Sunday after her family home in Kentucky was ravaged by a tornado.
Oaklynn’s family were forced to pull the plug on her life support in the early hours of Monday morning. Her family wrote on Facebook: “Wish I was saying better news and I really thought this was by far of what the outcome was going to be. I’m in shock, my heart feels absolutely shattered. We love you Oakie.”
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the all of the victims of this natural disaster.
Please, join us in wishing the families of the victims well, and say a prayer for all those whose lives have been affected by this storm.
