Mayfield woman escapes collapsed home through hole in debris

MAYFIELD, Ky. (WSMV) - A Mayfield, Kentucky woman was inside her home when it collapsed in the tornado. She escaped through a hole in the pile of rubble.

On Sunday, just one day after a tornado-ravaged her town, Deanna Badillo is smiling.

“Thank God I am alive,” she said, throwing her arms in the air.

Badillo was inside her beloved Mayfield Kentucky home when a violent tornado tore through it.

“The hole right there that you see, if you can see,” she said while pointing to the pile of rubble. “There’s a hole right there. That’s where I came out of.”

The hole is where her hallway used to be, the spot she reached in the nick of time.

“My friend said, ‘It’s here, get in the hallway,’” Badillo said. “In the next instant, her home collapsed on top of her.

“It was like, such a surreal moment,” she added. “I got something to take care of yet in this world, because I’m not dead. I could see that hole and a little bit of light, and the rain was falling on my face, so I knew it was open. And I was able to crawl from my hallway all the way up through that garbage, out and then walked down the street to the firehouse.”

Badillo’s home was reduced to its foundation, but her spirit is unshakeable.

“I’m thankful for this day,” she said. “The sun is shining; God has taken care of me every step after I crawled out of that thing. He’s taken care of my every move. And I got something to take care of yet in this world because I’m not dead.”

She was reunited with her dog Sunday, who went missing after the storm. Her whole perspective has now shifted.

“I want you to know this: You don’t have to agree with somebody. You don’t have to like somebody, but we are all humanity…and we should love each other,” Badillo said. “End of story.”