Mom Heartbroken After Kentucky Tornado Kills Her 3-YO Son | He Died in Her Arms

Moments before the tornado ravaged through Mayfield, Kentucky, Huda Alubahi took shelter in the bathroom with her two sons. The mom had her one-year-old son, Julius, in one arm and her three-year-old son, Jha'lil, in the other, reports CBS. 

"I grabbed them and jumped into the closet and shut that closet door," Alubahi said. "And by the time that happened everything was on top of us. … I couldn't move. … It felt like all the floors and everything from upstairs probably was on me." 

Something heavy from the floor above fell on Alubahi's face. She can't recall if it was a toilet or a sink, but it left her with a black eye. She was also unable to move her hands to try and free her and her kids from under the debris. 

All she could think of was getting her kids to safety. "My baby, my 1-year-old, was crying," she said. 

When disaster struck, Alubahi's brother was also at her home. He was in the living room, but it collapsed to the basement after the storm hit. While she was trapped in the rubble, Alubahi said she could hear her phone ringing but she did not know where it was. Her brother tried to locate her and the kids using the sound of the phone's ring, but the battery ran out. He then listened to the baby's cries to try and find them, but he only saw his sister's hands. 

"He ended up seeing my hand—that's all he could see," she said. 

Eventually, the baby stopped crying, but that caused Alubahi to worry. She thought she had lost her youngest son. "At that time I thought he was gone. But he wasn't," she said, wiping away tears. Little did she know that she had lost her older son. "I never heard my 3-year-old say anything." She couldn't even turn to see if her oldest son was still alive. 

Holding onto hope, she started screaming out for help. 

Eventually, they were pulled out of the rubble, but it took a whole team, including the father, to rescue them. The three of them were rushed to the hospital where the woman was informed that Julius was fine. In fact, he escaped without injury. "He was untouched, literally, nothing," Alubahi said. 

Unfortunately, Jha'lil didn't make it, and doctors informed the parents that he was brought dead. "I didn't know until then," the devastated mother said. "I wish I could have saved my son, but I couldn't."

Her two dogs also survived. The German shepherd had fallen into the basement with her brother. Her Yorkshire terrier was standing on the front steps, which was the only thing remaining from Alubahi's house when she returned from the hospital.

References:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/3-year-old-died-mayfield-kentucky-tornadoes-huda-alubahi/

Cover Image Source: Twitter | CBS Evening News