Texas Woman Dies After Tornado Hits Her Home While She Was Making Lunch amid Severe Weather Outbreak
"I tried to do CPR, but she was already gone,” her wife said
"I tried to do CPR, but she was already gone,” her wife said
A Texas woman is one of four people to die in a severe weather outbreak that impacted portions of the United States’ Deep South this weekend, her family says.
Jamie Brown was at her home in Brazoria County on Saturday, Dec. 28, when a tornado hit the property, according to CBS affiliate KHOU.
Stafnie Brown, Jamie’s wife, told the station that the 46-year-old was making lunch inside the family's modular home, which was one of the multiple buildings on the property in Alvin.
“I guess my mom’s house hit their house, and it kind of knocked it off, and I guess the tornado picked it up,” Stafnie explained.
She added, “Based on what I understand, it picked it up whole, threw it over there, dropped and exploded.”
The house that Jamie was in was tossed more than 100 feet away from its original location, Stafnie said, according to KHOU.
Stafnie eventually found her wife among the wreckage. “I tried to do CPR, but she was already gone,” she told the station of Jamie. “I think she got crumpled by stuff in the house.”
The EF-2 tornado that touched down on Saturday destroyed each of the homes on the property, which had previously weathered three hurricanes.
Stafnie said she and Jamie moved to the property in Alvin in August to help take care of Stafnie’s mother.
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Stafnie remembered Jamie as a loving and giving human: “I still think I”m going to wake up in the middle of the night, and she’s there. Or is she going to come walking through the door? … But it’s not going to happen.”
Erica Ackerman, her husband, Billy, and their two children are among those displaced by the storm, according to KHOU. They were living in the main house on the property, which was reduced to rubble by the storm.
Speaking with KHOU, Erica said she is thankful to be alive.
“There are 6 of us displaced, and we have completely lost everything, including a dear family member,” Ackerman wrote in a GoFundMe campaign after the twister tore through.
More than $7,000 has been raised through the online fundraiser.
Related: 2 People Hospitalized, More Injured in Rare California Tornado
At least three other people reportedly died following the severe weather outbreak, including 8-year-old Tykeria Roger, who was crushed when a tree fell on a home in Mississippi.
The two other deaths were in Lowndes County, also in Mississippi, and Iredell County, N.C., where a man died on Sunday, Dec. 29, after a tree fell on a vehicle on Landis Highway.