The heartbreaking plea of a mother who lost her twin daughters to an aggressive tornado in New York has come to light.
As per tragic reports, Kayleigh Bisson and her daughters, Emily and Kenni, were sleeping on the first floor of their home in Clark Mills when 95-mph winds and heavy rain from an EF-1 tornado struck their street.
The storm was powerful enough to uproot a number of large maple trees close to their property, one of which crashed through the roof and second floor of their home before landing on the first floor.
Rick Carollo, a member of the Clark Mills Fire Department, told Syracuse.com that the storm sounded like a freight train.
He added that the crashing of the tree woke him up. Moments later, his phone pinged with a message stating that the home next door to him needed immediate help.
Another neighbor, Jared Bowman, told Syracuse.com that he ran to Bisson’s home when he was alerted by the noise of the tree falling. There he saw the mother trying to escape through a window.
“I found the mother in the front window,” Bowman recalled, as per the NY Post. “I had to climb a tree to get her out.”
He added that Bisson panicked the moment she realized her twin girls were still trapped inside.
“She was yelling, ‘Get my kids out!’” Bowman said. “But there was no noise. It felt very eerie and bad.”
Carollo found a way into the home and began searching for Emily and Kenni. He soon found one of them, but the 6-year-old sadly had no pulse.
First responders were able to locate both twin girls and pronounce them dead at the scene. According to Syracuse.com, Bisson and her daughters had only been living at the home in Clark Mills for a few months.
Emily and Kenni were first-graders at Clinton Elementary School. The school’s superintendent, Christopher Clancy, issued a heartbreaking statement relating to the passing of the two girls.
“Earlier today, a severe weather emergency in our community resulted in the tragic loss of life, including two of our elementary students,” it reads. “Our hearts are with all of the families and loved ones affected by this tragedy.”
A GoFundMe was also set up to help Kayleigh Bisson with the funeral expenses for her daughters.
At of the time of writing, the page has raised in excess of $308,000.
According to Oneida County Sheriff’s Office, Sunday’s EF-1 tornado also resulted in the death of a third upstate New Yorker in a separate incident.
50-year-old Shelly Johnson was also killed when a tree fell through her roof while she was sleeping.
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