‘I thought I was going to die,’ Kentucky woman recalls scary tornado encounter

MAYFIELD, Ky. — A Kentucky resident said she was thankful to be alive after a deadly tornado smashed into her hometown on Friday night.

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Jasmine Parrott, who has lived in Mayfield her entire life, said she hid in her bathtub during the tornado, but the force of the storm hurled her out of her home and into the woods, WPSD-TV reported.

“I closed the door, and I pretty much like got down and covered my head,” Parrott told the television station. “I thought I was going to die. Like, I really don’t know how I made it out.”

"I got in the bathtub in my bathroom. I closed the door, and I pretty much like got down and covered my head," a Mayfield woman says. As @JackKaneWPSD explains, that decision almost certainly saved her life during Friday night's tornado. https://t.co/iYo07nBUzX
— WPSD Local 6 (@WPSDLocal6) December 12, 2021

The tornado that struck the city of Mayfield smashed into a candle manufacturing factory that was operating when the storm hit, WLKY-TV and CNN reported. There were 110 people in the building when it collapsed due to the storm, according to the television station. Gov. Andy Beshear said 40 of the 110 people in the factory have been saved, but was pessimistic about the fate of others who were working there.

“I’m not sure that we’re gonna see another rescue,” Beshear told CNN. “I pray for it.”

>> Kentucky tornadoes: Governor says death toll includes children ages 3, 5

While the factory was reduced to rubble, Parrott remained crouched in her bathtub.

She said she did not remember exactly all of the details when the tornado hit her western Kentucky apartment, but some remained vivid. Parrott said she woke up in the woods, still in her tub, according to WPSD. Her vehicle was resting in what was once her living room.

“I just kept rolling, like my body wouldn’t stop. And it finally stopped, my clothes were ripped up, I had blood everywhere,” Parrott told the television station. “I didn’t know that I was bleeding until I got to my neighbors.

“I guess my head was busted open, my leg, my ankle, my bone, I could see it. It was just crazy. I don’t know. I just keep thanking God.”

Despite her injuries, Parrott said helping her community recover is her most important goal.

“I’m just praying for all the people that lost someone, because I could have been one of those people,” Parrott told WPSD.

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