Stories of heartbreak and recovery were told across the Midwest and South as residents worked to pick up the pieces left behind after a weekend tornado outbreak spawned more than 90 tornadoes and caused dozens of deaths. 

This week, FOX Weather fanned out across the affected communities, sharing harrowing tales of survival and resilience.

Mississippi: ‘I think there is still a shock’

Seven people died from multiple tornadoes that struck Mississippi. 

Tylertown, Mississippi, was decimated by both an EF-4 and an EF-3 tornado just 45 minutes apart Saturday. A family was recording video as one of the violent tornadoes ripped through the city.

“That’s it. That’s it,” a voice is heard saying on the video. “That’s the tornado.” 

Seconds later, the tornado raced over the house. Debris could be heard hitting the building as the family scrambled to safety. Winds howled inside as the home weathered the twister.

TERRIFYING VIDEO SHOWS FAMILY RIDING OUT DEADLY TYLERTOWN, MISSISSIPPI, TORNADO

FOX Weather Correspondent Robert Ray visited a destroyed chicken coop on a local farm in Tylertown, where thousands of chickens roam free after being displaced from their shelter.

“People are quiet here this morning. I think there is still a shock,” Ray said as he carefully walked through debris Sunday morning.

DEBRIS, FARM LIFE LITTERED ACROSS TYLERTOWN, MISSISSIPPI, AFTER DEADLY TORNADO RIPS THROUGH TOWN

In Elliott, Mississippi, a father and son barely survived as a tornado rolled right by their home, toppling several trees onto the roof.

“All of a sudden, it got like a freight train,” Robert Holman recounted. “Then all of a sudden, we just heard stuff just falling all on the house.”

FATHER, SON CLING TOGETHER IN PRE-DAWN DARKNESS AS TORNADO RAVAGES ELLIOTT, MISSISSIPPI: ‘THAT GOT ROUGH’

Missouri: ‘All I could do is just tell everybody to run’

In Missouri, the death toll reached 12 from the storms across five different counties, but it could have been much higher. A group of 13 people were rescued after getting trapped in a Burger King bathroom as an EF-2 tornado rolled through the town of Villa Ridge, about 45 miles southwest of Missouri.

“It really happened just kind of quick,” shift leader Tara Fox told FOX Weather. “The wind had been going all day real quick, real hard. And it came out of nowhere. We had people in the drive-thru, customers inside. All I could do is just tell everybody to run to the bathroom.”

The tornado ended up heavily damaging the Burger King and a nearby gas station. No one in the store was injured.

13 PEOPLE RESCUED AFTER BEING TRAPPED IN BURGER KING BATHROOM DURING TORNADO IN MISSOURI

In Imperial, Ashlyn Carter-Lawson was at home with her husband and dogs when a tornado-warned storm blasted through Friday night. 

Carter-Lawson said she came up from the basement to start saving some of the items in her home between the waves of the storm. 

“I thought maybe it was done,” she said. “That’s when ceilings started collapsing.” 

About a couple of hours’ drive from Imperial in southeastern Missouri, the town of Poplar Bluff was also devastated by a tornado.

Poplar Bluff resident Arthur England was home that night when he felt the devastating power Mother Nature could wield through a tornado.

“It picked me up in my trailer, threw me down, and then it picked me up the rest of the way and threw me out the window,” England told FOX Weather Meteorologist Ian Oliver.

MISSOURI TORNADO SURVIVORS SHARE HEART-WRENCHING STORIES OF BEING HURLED THROUGH WINDOWS, FLOODED SHELTERS

Alabama: ‘Just asking God to spare them, and He did’

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey confirmed at least three people were killed by the severe storms that ripped through the state Saturday. Two people died in Dallas County, while another was killed in Winterboro, Ivey said. 

Calera was one of the towns that took a direct hit. Tim Striegel’s mobile home was among those destroyed. Striegel said his phone started alerting him to a tornado in the area, and he wasn’t sure if he and his daughter should stay in their home or leave to take shelter elsewhere. He said he called a good friend, who told him to come up to his house and take shelter in the basement. 

“It was not a few minutes after we left, and got up there, that it hit,” Striegel said, standing outside the wreckage of his home. “And it just destroyed it.” 

3 DEAD IN CENTRAL ALABAMA AS RESIDENTS BEGIN CLEANUP PROCESS AFTER SEVERE STORMS

Firefighter Josh Pate was on duty Saturday when a tornado tore through his home in Gordo, where his wife and children prayed for safe passage through the terrifying storm.

“She was there, praying them on through and just asking God to spare them, and He did,” Pate said. “He always answers us when we’re faithful to Him.”

The tornado tore the roof off the home, and it shredded much of the furniture and belongings inside. However, the closet where Pate’s wife and sons sought refuge was untouched.

ALABAMA TORNADO DESTROYS FIREFIGHTER’S HOME WITH WIFE, SONS INSIDE: ‘GOD’S HAND WAS ON THEM’ 

In Winterboro, an EF-2 tornado left one dead and another injured.  

Drone video showed a school bus that had been lofted onto a high school gymnasium.

DRONE VIDEO BUS ON ALABAMA GYM

Arkansas: ‘Look at the debris it’s picking up’

In Arkansas, one community found itself having to begin the tornado recovery process yet again after an EF-2 tornado tore through the same neighborhood still recovering from an EF-1 twister that hit on Memorial Day 2024.

The EF-2 tornado that hit Paragould, Arkansas, was one of nine twisters confirmed by National Weather Service offices across the state occurring over Friday and Saturday. At least four injuries were reported from this tornado. 

THIS ARKANSAS TOWN HAS BEEN HIT BY 2 TORNADOES IN LESS THAN A YEAR

A much stronger tornado rocked Tuckerman, rating an EF-4.

As lightning flashed, the towering vortex could be seen against the dark sky. The video captured the eerie sounds of howling winds as the tornado tore across the area.
“Holy cow, it’s big,” Tiffany Stafford can be heard saying in her video. “Look at the debris it’s picking up. Oh my gosh!”

ARKANSAS ROCKED BY 2 NIGHTTIME EF-4 TORNADOES DURING DEADLY OUTBREAK: ‘HOLY COW, IT’S BIG’

At least five people were injured as tornadoes tore through Cave City, Arkansas, leaving a trail of damage across town. Three of the injured required transport to a local hospital, but all were expected to recover.

5 HURT AS TORNADO TEARS THROUGH ARKANSAS TOWN: ‘MIRACLE FROM GOD’ NO ONE KILLED

The storms triggered more than 1,000 storm reports to the National Weather Service across multiple states. According to the FOX Forecast Center, if you add up all the tracks of the confirmed tornadoes surveyed through Tuesday afternoon, it would stretch nearly 1,000 miles.