A man credited God for helping him "work it out" from being trapped in a candle factory in Mayfield City, Kentucky that collapsed during the onslaught of the deadly tornadoes over the weekend.
CBN News reported that the 37-year-old Mark Saxton called his 38-year-old wife, Courtney, on Friday night while he was trapped under the rubble and debris of the Mayfield Consumer Products factory, while tornadoes raged through the South and Midwest areas of the United States.
There were at least 50 tornadoes that hit the states of Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi, and Tennessee on Friday night until Saturday morning. The tornadoes left behind a trail of destruction and at least 100 people feared dead, at least ten injured, and more than a hundred homes damaged across the said states that are now on a state of emergency.
According to Courtney in an interview with the Associated Press, Saxton called in a state of extreme anxiety and pain. She was very scared for him at that time and accompanied him in prayer.
"He was calling us hollering and screaming and crying because he was stuck. It was scary for me because I'm thinking, 'Oh my God, is he going to make it? So I prayed with him over the phone, too. I just kept talking to him, kept telling him that God will work it out, be strong, don't give up, keep fighting," Courtney recalled.
Mark and his cousin Robert Daniels, along with other co-workers, were employed in the factory and both were trapped that night in it. Daniels was in charge of overseeing inmates in the factory as its corrections officer. Sadly, Mark was the only one who survived between the two. Reports reveal that many employees trapped in the debris also died. He disclosed in an interview with NBC News that he, too, thought he wouldn't live beyond that tragedy.
"I really didn't think I was going to make it. If you see the people that were beside me...I can't believe I'm even here," Mark said.
Mark recounted being able to notice the fast-approaching and strong impact of the tornado as he looked out his window at work. He tried to back away upon seeing the twister that is coming towards them but it was already too late for soon enough things were starting to fall before him.
"Tiles and concrete started falling. Walls imploded. Everyone started running, so I just dropped to the ground. I got in a fetal position, and the concrete slab fell on top of me," Mark narrated.
Simultaneously, Courtney was experiencing the same thing as home as she and their five kids hid in a bathtub while the tornado was tearing their roof off. Courtney revealed how scared the children were and how she called on God for help.
"They were scared, screaming, crying. It was awful. I was trying to calm them down, but the whole time I'm praying. I knew that God would see us through," Courtney said.
Mayfield City is one of those badly hit by the monstrous tornadoes. As previously reported, there were more than 80 persons killed in Kentucky as per statement released by Governor Andy Beshear on Saturday.
While at least one was reported dead in Missouri, four in Tennessee, six in Illinois, and two in Arkansas with a list of five injured. This excludes the 20 people trapped in Arkansas' Monette Manor, a nursing home near the Tennessee border. There were also at least ten reported injured in Tennessee and two in Missouri's St. Louis.
