'The Lord took care of us' | Taylor County man says he's thankful to be alive after night of tornadoes | Local News

TAYLOR COUNTY, Ky. (WDRB) -- A Taylor County, Kentucky, man says he's thankful to be alive after possible tornadoes ripped through Kentucky overnight, killing at least 50 people, according to Gov. Andy Beshear.

In the early morning darkness on Saturday, Mitchell Wooldridge surveyed what remained of his home.

"My house is actually to the left of us here, but all that's left is a bunch of concrete. The basement, which was where we were at -- thank God we had a basement," Wooldridge said. "He took care of us. My whole family is safe."

The house appeared to be ripped from the ground -- with only a severely damaged basement remaining.

IMAGES: Damage in western Kentucky after Dec. 10-11, 2021 tornadoes

"Just waiting for daylight to really get a full grasp on the devastation that we have," he told WDRB's Grace Hayba. "Definitely not a house. No barns. Looking for the livestock -- that kind of thing."

Wooldridge said the storms hit at about 3:15 in the morning, when he and his wife were asleep upstairs and his daughters were in the basement.

Truck belonging to Mitchell Wooldridge, Taylor County man, after possible tornado touchdown on Dec. 11, 2021.

"The Code Red alert woke us up," he said. "It took a little bit, because, you know, you get the false warnings and you kind of look out. It wasn't raining or anything, and you think, 'Oh, it's not a big deal.' And then you hear the loud winds."

Wooldridge said he and his wife went to the basement to check on the girls -- and that's when the winds really picked up.

"I was really starting to crouch down, telling everybody, 'Get down! Get down! Get down!'" he said. "That's when the wall hit me and knocked me down."

When the storm passed, he said his wife told him, "I can see out. The house is down. There's nothing left."

DEVASTATION IN KY | Meet Mitchell. This is what’s left of his home. He told me he was in the basement crouching down with his wife and children when a wall fell on top of him. Thankfully they and their neighbors survived, but many of their homes are gone. @WDRBNews pic.twitter.com/t7jtNjWkdb
— Grace Hayba (@GraceHayba) December 11, 2021

Then came the waiting game.

"So we just tried to hunker down under anything we could to stay dry, waiting for somebody to come," Wooldridge said. "I had lost my cell phone in all the action and she still had hers, so was making phone calls.

"Thank God we know a lot of people in this town -- we've been here our whole life. So they came and got us."

Not only did the neighbors give them shelter, they also gave them clothes. Wooldridge said the clothes he was currently wearing belonged to one of his neighbors.

"Thank God for that," he said. "He's a big guy like me. And his house is the only house on this road that is still standing."

But the morning wasn't over. Before long, Wooldridge said it was time for him to play the role of rescuer.

"We went across the road and yelled out and the neighbors were trapped under the rubble," he said. "So instantly I said, 'Well I'm going to start digging them out, Nevin, you go get some help. So he went and got some of the guys from the rescue squad, the fire department and stuff like that, and we dug them out and got them out. But like I said, thank God they were safe too -- just pinned in by the rubble."

Wooldridge said the tornado really puts life into perspective.

"I'm definitely thankful that my family is okay," he said. "All this stuff is material. We worked for it one time -- we can work for it again. We can replace it. But my family is fine. The Lord took care of us."

In total, one person died and a dozen others were taken to the hospital in Taylor County.

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