Kentucky’s death toll from a line of tornadoes that tore through the state has increased to 77, Gov. Andy Beshear said Friday.
Two babies survived a tornado in Kentucky last weekend that ripped the bathtub they were sheltering in out of the ground and tossed it with them inside, their grandmother said.
Clara Lutz told WFIE-TV that she put 15-month-old Kaden and 3-month-old Dallas in the bathtub last Friday with a blanket, a pillow and a Bible. Then the house in Hopkins County started shaking.
"Next thing I knew, the tub had lifted and it was out of my hands," Lutz said. "I couldn't hold on. I just – oh my God."
Lutz, who had been hit in the back of the head by the water tank from the tub, said she began looking everywhere among the wreckage for the children. Her house was stripped to the foundation.
"All I could say was, 'Lord please bring my babies back safely. Please, I beg thee,'" she said.
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The bathtub was found in her yard, upside down, with the babies underneath. Authorities from the sheriff's office drove to the end of her driveway and reunited her with the two children, she said.
Dallas had a big bump on the back of his head and had to go to Vanderbilt University Medical Center Nashville because his brain was bleeding, but the bleeding stopped before Lutz got to the hospital, she said.
Lutz said the parents of the children live on the north end of the county and their home was nearly untouched by the tornado.
At least 90 people have been confirmed dead across multiple states after more than 40 tornadoes pummeled a wide area last weekend.
In Kentucky, state emergency management officials and the state health department put the current count at 75. The governor, who said his staff believes there are an additional three deaths, said Saturday that all of the people reported missing in the state after the outbreak of tornadoes have been accounted for.
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Photos: Tragedy on single Kentucky street
A child's toy car sits near damaged cars and homes Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2021, in Bowling Green, Ky. When a tornado touched down in Bowling Green in the middle of the night, its violence was centered on a friendly subdivision, where everyone waved at each other and giggling children spent afternoons tooling around on their bicycles on the sidewalks. Fourteen people died in a few blocks, 11 of them on a single street. Entire families were lost, between them seven children, two of them infants. (AP Photo/James Kenney)
A family photograph lies among the debris along Moss Creek Avenue in Bowling Green, Ky., Tuesday, Dec.14, 2021. The neighborhood was one of the hardest hit areas in the city after a tornado ripped through the weekend before. (AP Photo/James Kenney)
A Radio Flyer wagon lies among debris along Moss Creek Avenue Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2021, in Bowling Green, Ky. When a tornado touched down in Bowling Green in the middle of the night, its violence was centered on a friendly subdivision. Fourteen people died in a few blocks, 11 of them on Moss Creek Avenue. Entire families were lost, between them seven children, two of them infants. (AP Photo/James Kenney)
Rachel Gray helps retrieve belongings from a friend's home Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2021, in Bowling Green, Ky. When a tornado touched down in Bowling Green in the middle of the night, its violence was centered on a friendly subdivision, where everyone waved at each other and giggling children spent afternoons tooling around on their bicycles on the sidewalks. (AP Photo/James Kenney)
Vung Nuam, center, looks through the remains of her home Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2021, in Bowling Green, Ky. (AP Photo/James Kenney)
Kate Garrett retrieves a Christmas tree from her friend's destroyed home Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2021, in Bowling Green, Ky. The neighborhood was one of the hardest hit areas in the city after a tornado ripped through the weekend before. (AP Photo/James Kenney)
Search and rescue workers go house to house Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2021, in Bowling Green, Ky. When a tornado touched down in Bowling Green in the middle of the night, its violence was centered on a friendly subdivision. Fourteen people died in a few blocks, 11 of them on a single street. (AP Photo/James Kenney)
Ben Cerimovic, an immigrant from Bosnia, pauses while working to help clean up in a neighborhood devastated by the recent tornado Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2021, in Bowling Green, Ky. There's a close-knit, thriving Bosnian community in Bowling Green, which has a robust refugee resettlement program to bring migrants to Western Kentucky. Cerimovic volunteered here Saturday and Sunday, then he had to take Monday off to gather his emotions. (AP Photo/James Kenney)
Members of police and rescue units walk along Moss Creek Avenue Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2021, in Bowling Green, Ky. When a tornado touched down in Bowling Green, fourteen people died in a few blocks, 11 of them on Moss Creek Avenue. (AP Photo/James Kenney)
A bicycle lies among the debris on Moss Creek Avenue in Bowling Green, Ky., Tuesday, Dec.14, 2021. The neighborhood was one of the hardest hit areas in the city after a tornado ripped through the weekend before. (AP Photo/James Kenney)
Ray Beganovic walks along Moss Creek Avenue Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2021, in Bowling Green, Ky. Beganovic said he knows some of the people who died when a tornado touched down in the middle of the night the previous weekend. Fourteen people died in a few blocks, 11 of them on Moss Creek Avenue. Entire families were lost, between them seven children, two of them infants. (AP Photo/James Kenney)
Jose Rivas, left, looks at tornado damage Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2021, in Bowling Green, Ky. Rivas has neighbors among those killed when a tornado slammed through the neighborhood the previous weekend. Entire families were lost, between them seven children, two of them infants. (AP Photo/James Kenney)
Ganimete Ademi surveys the debris from her daughter's house which was being built along Moss Creek Avenue in Bowling Green, Ky., Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2021. The neighborhood was one of the hardest hit areas in the city after a tornado ripped through the city the previous weekend. Ademi, a 46-year-old grandmother, fled Kosovo in 1999 during the war, in which she lost her uncle and a nephew. Now she looks around her own neighborhood. “I turn my memory back to 22 years ago,” she said. (AP Photo/James Kenney)
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The 10 deadliest tornadoes in the US since 1900
695 deaths: March 18, 1925, in Missouri, Illinois and Indiana
A March 21, 1925 photo of an overturned house that was carried more than 50 feet from its foundation by a tornado at Griffen, Indiana. There were 54 dead and about 200 injured of the town population of 400.
216 deaths: April 5, 1936, in Tupelo, Mississippi
203 deaths: April 6, 1936, in Gainesville, Georgia
181 deaths: April 9, 1947, in Woodward, Oklahoma.
A carpet store is in ruins following a tornado in Woodward, Okla., Sunday, April 15, 2012.
158 deaths: May 22, 2011, in Joplin, Missouri
This May 24, 2011 file photo shows the path of a powerful tornado through Joplin, Mo.
143 deaths: April 24, 1908, in Amite, Louisiana, and Purvis, Mississippi
116 deaths: June 8, 1953, in Flint, Michigan
114 deaths: May 11, 1953 in Waco, Texas
Civilian, Army and Air Force workers, bolstered by heavy equipment, start the gigantic task of cleaning up wreckage remaining in the downtown area of Waco, Texas, May 14, 1953, in the aftermath of the May 11 tornado.
114 deaths: May 18, 1902 in Goliad, Texas
103 deaths: March 23, 1913, in Omaha, Nebraska

