Chiquita Broadnax: Mom and her 8-year-old son killed by pine tree uprooted by tornado while they slept
MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA: On the early morning of November 30, an Alabama neighborhood was destroyed by a tornado that also killed a mother and her young son. In the Flatwood neighborhood of north Montgomery County, Chiquita Broadnax, 39, and her eight-year-old son Cedarrius Tell, perished in their beds after a pine tree fell on their house as a result of a tornado.
When an EF-2 tornado ripped into their home in the middle of the night, the mother-son duo was apparently dozing off in the same bed. Cedric Lamar Tell, Cedarrius' father, was also inside the house and got stuck under some debris but did not die. Later, he was taken to the hospital where he received surgery for his wounds and is now expected to make a full recovery as per Daily Mail. There were dozens of tornadoes that touched down on Tuesday, November 29, throughout the four southern states with at least 23 confirmed ones, including the storm that plowed into the neighborhood.
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One of Chiquita and Cedarrius' family members, Norman Bennett, claimed that they were probably both asleep when the tree fell on their house. “The tree fell right slap in the middle of the bed while they were asleep. It fell on the wife and the kid,” Bennett told WAAY 31. Neighbors claim that when the tornado had passed and they came outside, they hear Cedric screaming. Cedric was reportedly stuck under debris and unable to check on his family, according to Bennett. “He was hollering. 'Find my baby. Find my baby,’'' said Bennett. The Flatwood Community Center which was destroyed by the tornado was just next door to the victims' home.
Chenita Staley, the center's director, gave AL a loving description of the mother and her son. “He's been coming at least three, four years, every summer,” Staley said of Cedarrius. “Just as sweet as he could be. He was quiet but he got along with everyone. He loved his dinosaurs.” “She was always bringing stuff for the kids, ice cream and popsicles,” she said of Chiquita. “She said it's hot over here, so she always would bring stuff for the kids. Just a nice person, nice personality.” According to the National Weather Service, the tornado's winds reached a speed of roughly 115 miles per hour. No other deaths were reported but there were numerous other injuries caused by the storms around the county.
Christina Thornton, director of the Montgomery City-County Emergency Management Agency, called some of the destruction in the area "harrowing." 'It's absolutely looking like a small community has been wiped off the map,” she told FOX Weather. “It's really devastating to think about when you look across the field, and you know that there were homes there the day before on your way to work, and when you're leaving work, they're not going to be there.”