Tornado survivor shares harrowing story of being trapped under rubble

WYNNE, Ark. (WMC) - Residents in Wynne, Arkansas, are keeping a close eye on the radar this week as they continue to pick up the pieces from last week’s devastating storms.

Sean Weeks says his wife was trapped under what’s left of their home for an hour.

Meanwhile, he says it took at least five hours and help from neighbors and first responders to help him make it out.

“You go through something, you see it on the news, and you watch people, [but] until you live it, you can’t imagine how scary it is,” said Weeks.

Some scrapes and bruises are all Sean Weeks is left with after an EF3 tornado hit his home, trapping him under a tree for hours.

“It took an hour and a half to get my wife out,” said Weeks. “They told me it took about five or six hours to get me out. It was very scary. Very scary.”

Neighbors and first responders from the Wynne and West Memphis Fire Departments and Southern Paramedic Services stayed by Weeks’ side working tirelessly to rescue him as more rain and wind came through.

“I told my crew to put a tarp over his head so he didn’t drown, because he was trapped down laying flat on his back,” said Melony Fallon, paramedic supervisor with Southern Paramedic Services. “I told everybody to take cover. I wasn’t gonna leave him because he was my patient. I was gonna stay with them until it was over.”

Fallon says Weeks was eventually able to pull himself from under the tree after hours of work to get out.

“There was somebody else protecting him besides me,” said Fallon.

Weeks says God got him through the unimaginable.

“God had his hand on me and my wife,” said Weeks. “Because there’s no other reason that we should be alive right now. We should be dead and we’re not.”

Sean and his wife are staying with neighbors for now, but remain optimistic about what’s to come.

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