As a tornado ripped through the town of Madison, Tennessee, just outside of Nashville, a mother died performing the ultimate act of love. Floridema Gabriel Perez, 31, was clutching her 2-year-old son, Anthony Elmer Mendez, when the pair perished in their mobile home during the deadly storm that reportedly killed at least six people.
Neighbors told News Channel 5 Nashville that they prayed no one was injured during the horrific storms and hoped to hear the young child crying as they looked for him and his mother. Sadly, the day took a tragic turn, and Perez will be remembered as a mother who sacrificed her life to protect her son.
The mobile home park reportedly has many trees.
Neighbors spoke to multiple news outlets detailing Saturday’s storms. Sue Prior told WKRN she was downtown and her 17-year-old son was home during the storm. She said she expected bad weather but had no idea how deadly the tornado would be.
“I was praying about the trailers, and the trees not falling on the trailer, that’s what I was really worried about, but I wasn’t expecting the storm to get that bad,” Prior said.
The storm seemingly spared her home, but some neighbors, such as Perez, didn’t fare so well.
Strong winds tipped a mobile home over.
The heavy wind caused one mobile home in the area to topple onto another, according to WKRN. Perez and her son died because of this, as did neighbor Joseph Dalton, 37. His 10-year-old son was in the trailer during the storm but was not seriously injured.
Prior said knowing her neighbors are gone is surreal.
“We see them all the time, you know, we’re pretty small here, so everybody kind of sees everybody in and out, knows everybody,” she said.
When the storm passed, neighbors tried to help.
Wanda McClemor told News Channel 5 that she walked out of her home after the storm on Saturday and saw the devastation. She prayed she would hear a cry, but the silence was deafening. “We were out here listening for a baby, and they thought maybe [the child] had blown away,” she recalled.
Neighbors reportedly searched for Perez and Anthony in the rubble but could not find them. McLemore said she heard the cries for help and soon realized they had made a heartbreaking discovery.
“They said they couldn’t find her because she was holding him, trying to protect the baby,” McClemor said, according to News Channel 5.
A second child is confirmed dead.
Arlan Burnham, 10, reportedly died when his family’s two-story house in Clarksville collapsed with him inside. He and his older sister were trapped, but the girl reportedly survived. The family said Arlan died saving his sister’s life.
“My son was amazing,” his mother, Katherine Burnham told Clarksville Now. “There is no one in this world like him. Anyone that has ever encountered him is experiencing a loss.”
The family lost everything during the deadly tornado. A GoFundMe page has raised more than $140,000 thus far to help them rebuild their lives.
Tornadoes ripped through central Tennessee on Saturday.
The Tennessean reported that tornadoes began Saturday afternoon and continued into the evening, per the National Weather Service. During the weekend, a preliminary count included 13 tornadoes, two confirmed Sunday evening, and reports of damaging straight-line winds. The areas with the most damage included Clarksville, Madison, Hendersonville, and Gallatin.
“The Clarksville Police Department wants to express their deepest condolences to the families that lost loved ones, and to those who were directly affected by the tornado yesterday. The road to recovery is going to take time and we ask that citizens who are not directly involved in search, rescue, or recovery efforts to avoid the impacted areas. Emergency Crews are working as quickly as possible and operations will continue until the scenes have been checked and cleared,” the agency stated on Facebook.
There were at least six fatalities, and at least 62 people were treated for injuries, per CBS News.
