4-month-old baby miraculously survives after being swept away from home by tornado

For 10 agonizing minutes, Sydney Moore feared the worst after a tornado destroyed her family’s mobile home in Clarksville, Tennessee, on the evening of December 9. Moore’s youngest son, four-month-old Lord, was missing.

4-month-old baby Lord. Photo: CNN

Moore (22 years old) told CNN (USA): “There was no warning”. When the tornado hit on the evening of December 9, Moore immediately used her body to shield her 1-year-old son Princeton. Moore’s boyfriend – Aramis Youngblood (39 years old) rushed to protect baby Lord who was sleeping in the crib. However, the tornado took Lord with it. Youngblood reached for the crib, which was also lifted off the ground and flew into the air.

Youngblood dislocated his shoulder but continued to search through the debris. It took him 10 agonizing minutes to find the crying Lord lying in a fallen tree about 30 feet away.

Moore, Youngblood and the boys were relaxing in their mobile home before the tornado hit. By the time the tornado passed, the family of four had lost all their belongings and their car was crushed by a fallen tree. They walked more than a mile to find help. “There was another woman who helped me hold Lord while we tried to find paramedics,” Moore said.

The family was then able to reach first responders. Moore said a doctor examined Lord and determined he was a “perfectly healthy baby,” despite a laceration to his face.

Tornado in Clarksville, Tennessee on December 9. Photo: CNN

Storms in Tennessee, including two tornadoes, left thousands displaced on December 9, causing widespread destruction. Hundreds of homes were destroyed and at least six people were killed, including a mother and her young child.

According to the National Weather Service (NWS), a tornado with winds of 201 km/h hit several areas in Hendersonville and the Madison suburbs of Nashville, Tennessee. The tornado traveled nearly 69 km from Clarksville in Montgomery County, Tennessee to Logan County, Kentucky.

The tornado ripped apart homes and businesses, ripped off roofs and shattered windows, overturned cars and trucks, and uprooted trees.