'Trees are going to fall on us, Mommy': W.T. Moore teacher's harrowing escape with her girls

Alaijah Brown, Tallahassee Democrat
·4 min read
The Smith family in their home before it was demolished by a tornado Friday morning.
The Smith family in their home before it was demolished by a tornado Friday morning.

Carla Smith, a second-grade teacher at W.T. Moore Elementary School, was preparing her two daughters for school Friday morning, and told them, "It's a good day to wear rainboots." While watching the news she saw that a ferocious storm was coming and rushed out the house to beat the rain.

"So, as we were walking out to my car, my phone went off that there was a tornado warning, and I was like, 'oh, no, we better really get moving,' " Smith said as she recounted every detail of Friday morning.

Her husband David packed everyone up in the car, kissed them all goodbye and went back into their house.

Then Smith said the tornado immediately hit them.

"The tornado physically lifted my car off the ground and moved it into the tree, and then the trees just were falling all over us," Smith said, recalling the moment winds tossed her car 15 feet away into a tree.

David and Carla Smith's home was covered with an "uncountable number of trees," Friday morning after a tornado blew through her neighborhood. She said insurance adjustors told her the repair time could take more than a year, and the home was considered a "catastrophic loss." (Credit: Provided by Carla Smith)
David and Carla Smith's home was covered with an "uncountable number of trees," Friday morning after a tornado blew through her neighborhood. She said insurance adjustors told her the repair time could take more than a year, and the home was considered a "catastrophic loss." (Credit: Provided by Carla Smith)

In a flash, the car was rocked back and forth by strong wind gusts, and the loud snaps and strong vibrations of trees falling surrounded them on all sides. The three of them could only scream for help. Smith called her husband to save them, but he couldn't understand them clearly on the phone, all he could hear was their cries for help.

She said her husband managed to break through the rear garage door, which was already blocked by fallen trees, and rescue them from the car that was covered by trees, in the middle of what was later determined to be one of three EF-2 tornadoes.

"Physically, everyone's OK," Smith said, but she is certain her daughters – Savannah, 9, and Natalie, 7 – will need trauma therapy. The couple is thankful nobody suffered serious injuries.

"They've cried a lot, they don't understand it," Smith said. After the tornado passed through, a family friend rushed through streets of trees, debris and fallen power lines to take her girls to his house, which was a bit safer.

"I went and got my kids from my friend's house, and we were driving and my 9-year-old was just crying and she's like, 'Mommy, there's too many trees. The trees are going to fall on us, Mommy. We can't (keep going), we've got to get out of the car.' "

'Catastrophic loss': Trees fell through every bedroom of their house

Tallahassee is continuing to try to get back on its feet following widespread destruction from Friday’s storms, which could go down in history as the city’s worst tornado outbreak ever.

As reported by the Tallahassee Democrat, wind gusts as high as 100 mph and as many as three different tornadoes has led to untold human suffering across the city, with countless trees, power poles and lines down and numerous homes and businesses damaged or destroyed.

That includes the Smith family's home, located off of Old Saint Augustine Road.

The family suffered a heavy loss, one Carla Smith said may take over a year for them to recover. On Sunday, the couple sent their daughters to stay with relatives in West Palm Beach for the week, while they stay in a hotel.

David and Carla Smith's home was covered with an "uncountable number of trees," Friday morning after a tornado blew through her neighborhood. She said insurance adjustors told her the repair time could take more than a year, and the home was considered a "catastrophic loss." (Credit: Provided by Carla Smith)
David and Carla Smith's home was covered with an "uncountable number of trees," Friday morning after a tornado blew through her neighborhood. She said insurance adjustors told her the repair time could take more than a year, and the home was considered a "catastrophic loss." (Credit: Provided by Carla Smith)

Trees fell through every bedroom of their home. They were forced to leave the structure as it was deemed unsafe.

"The insurance adjustor came out yesterday and said there's an uncountable number of trees that have landed on my house," Smith told the Tallahassee Democrat Monday morning. "They said it's a catastrophic loss."

Smith, still reeling from the ordeal, said the most immediate need for the family is clothes and shoes for her girls.

After being rescued by her husband, she was on the phone, "crying to my friend because right before the roof fell in my house, I grabbed some stuff, but I literally grabbed five nightgowns. Why would I do that? I didn't grab shorts. I didn't grab shoes, but I grabbed nightgowns," she said, unable to explain her instincts.

"I couldn't process, you know, when you're in such a situation and you have to get out before it's worse, you don't know what to get."

David and Carla Smith's home was covered with an "uncountable number of trees," Friday morning after a tornado blew through her neighborhood. She said insurance adjustors told her the repair time could take more than a year, and the home was considered a "catastrophic loss." (Credit: Provided by Carla Smith)
David and Carla Smith's home was covered with an "uncountable number of trees," Friday morning after a tornado blew through her neighborhood. She said insurance adjustors told her the repair time could take more than a year, and the home was considered a "catastrophic loss." (Credit: Provided by Carla Smith)

She says she is still making peace with what happened, as her husband has been working tirelessly to clear their yard.

"We're a family who lives paycheck to paycheck, and I darn sure didn't expect to be staying in a hotel for this long," she said.

Smith spent Mother's Day sobbing after sending her daughters away Sunday for their safety.

"I'm upset that I'm not ... tucking them in, and I'm not there with them when they wake up," Smith said. "But I just know that we're just not in a stable environment for them. So, in the effort to do what's best for them, I just feel that I don't care what holiday it is, it's always a priority for them to be safe."

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Alaijah Brown covers children & families for the Tallahassee Democrat. She can be reached at ABrown1@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Tallahassee teacher survived tornado after trees buried her car