Over the weekend, at least 50 tornadoes tore through parts of Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, and Tennessee. In Kentucky, several communities were devastated by the destruction, including the Southern town of Bowling Green, where an EF3 tornado destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses and more than 12 people died.
In times of hardship, Southerners will always come together. And that’s exactly what happened over the weekend in Bowling Green, when neighbors banded together to rescue their neighbor from his crumbling house.
Philip Hinkle was in bed when the tornadoes touched down. Because he’s deaf in one ear, he said he never heard the warning sirens and wasn’t aware he needed to take cover. Next thing he knew, his roof had collapsed, and the resulting debris left him trapped in his bed.
“I didn’t know what happened,” Hinkle told local news station WLKY. “I was just stunned, you know? It was on my chest, and I couldn’t get out of the bed, you know, all the pressure on me.”
Hinkle called out for help and caught the attention of his neighbor Glenn Sawyer who sprang into action, braving mighty winds that reached up to 155 miles per hour during the height of the storm.
“We ran across the street while it was really windy, and we grabbed a ladder, and we ran back,” Sawyer told WLKY News. “We propped up the ladder on a bunch of bricks on really unsteady ground and then I kind of climbed up on the side and got up there to help him and guide him to the ladder. [I was holding] the ladder from the top, and then my dad was holding it steady from the ground.”
Sawyer said he and his father were able to help Hinkle out of his house, and even grab shoes to protect his feet.
Our hearts and prayers go out to all those affected by the historic natural disaster.
