A Friend in Iowa Saved a Mother and Her Baby Just Seconds Before a Tornado Destroyed Their Home in Greenfield
It’s greenfield in Iowa. In the wake of the deadly tornado that destroyed a small Iowa town, the strength of the human spirit is on full show.
As Shae Newbury looks at the terrible scene in Greenfield, she has every reason to be angry and upset.
Her home, which used to be warm and inviting and where she and her husband made many special moments with their 11-month-old daughter, is now in ruins and can’t even be recognized among the wreckage.
Newbury gets a fresh start amidst the chaos. She is grateful to the nearby family for saving her and her child during the tornadic supercells. She didn’t want to risk getting hurt in her basement with her baby, so she called her husband’s cousin next door. He came right away to take them to his shelter, where they would be safe.
“He came, grabbed my daughter, took off to his house and told me to run,” she said. “The next thing I knew, he told me to get down!” It was then the tornado hit.”
Like Newbury, people who find themselves in a tornado-warned area out of the blue may feel paralyzed and find it hard to understand how bad the storms are.
Before she got to their basement, she said, “I really thought it was just a thunderstorm.” She then watched the tornado come toward them. “Then I realized we might not make it.” I’m sure I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t called them.
The Iowa State Patrol says that at least 35 people were hurt and four people died in Greenfield during the storm.
Greenville has been hit by 32 recorded tornadoes in Adair County’s history. For Newbury, this kind of bad weather had never happened before, so she was glad she was living in the area at the time.
“I feel very lucky to be here because everyone reached out to us right away to make sure I and my baby were okay.” “Making sure we had everything we needed,” Newbury said. To help pay for a new home and all the things they would need, they set up a GoFundMe page.
Based on what the National Weather Service says, the tornado is at least an EF-3. It’s still not clear how badly the storm damaged buildings because officials are still looking into it.
In Greenfield, thunderstorms are likely to happen Thursday night and over the next few days. Another thing that makes cleaning up here harder is the chance of more bad weather.
“Now that the storm hit, it’s truly bringing us all closer together because we never thought it happened to us,” he says. “Now that it has, we all realize we need to stick together.”