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Kentucky tornadoes: ‘We were just trying to stay calm,’ candle factory survivor says

By Bob D'Angelo, Cox Media Group National Content Desk and Bob D'Angelo, Cox Media Group National Content Desk
By Bob D'Angelo, Cox Media Group National Content Desk and Bob D'Angelo, Cox Media Group National Content Desk

MAYFIELD, Ky. — It was a terrifying way to mark a milestone birthday.

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As a tornado ripped through a candle factory in western Kentucky, a woman can be heard in a video reassuring her co-workers that they would be able to escape the rubble of the collapsed building.

“Calm down, calm down. We gonna be OK,” Kyanna Parsons-Perez said after the roof of the factory fell when tornadoes hit late Friday.

Parsons-Perez, who turned 40 on Saturday, can be heard in the video, which was shared to social media, urging co-workers who were trapped in the darkened building to remain calm, NBC News reported.

“My birthday is in couple (of) hours,” Parsons-Perez, who turned 40 on Saturday, can be heard telling colleagues in Mayfield, one of the cities hardest hit by the storm. “Y’all gotta sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to me.”

Several coworkers begin singing the tune, NBC News reported.

Parsons-Perez said she and her co-workers were moved to a shelter area when the twister hit the building. She began shooting a video on Facebook before the tornado hit.

“We felt the wind. My ears started popping, and then it was like the building, like we all just rocked back and forth, and then boom, everything fell on us,” Parsons-Perez told CNN. “It was the most terrifying thing that I have ever experienced in my life.

Parsons-Perez said that while she was taking cover, her ears began “popping.”

“Like, you know when you’re on the plane?” Parsons-Perez told NBC News. “And then before you know it, it was like the building rocked and collapsed and we fell down.”

Parson-Perez, who was pinned to the ground by a water fountain and air-conditioning unit, said a first responder told her she was covered with 5 feet of debris, CNN reported.

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Kentucky tornadoes A resident surveys the damage from a tornado that hit downtown Mayfield, Kentucky, on Friday night. (Mark Humphrey/Associated Press )

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