BASILE — Three people are out of the hospital, including a teenager, after a tornado trapped them inside the building that houses Rheas Specialty Meats Tuesday morning.
"Here inside of the front, that is the meat room; we tried to go another way, but the whole room collapsed," said Sally Ceasar, a worker inside the store when the tornado hit.
Some workers, like Ceasar, managed to escape injury, but several others, including teenager Lainey Cormier, were trapped inside, covered in debris and cinder blocks, after a tornado slammed into the meat shop.
"And then it just came out of nowhere," said Lainey Cormier.
The next thing she knew…
"Someone was like, your head is bleeding," said Cormier.
Despite being hurt, she ran to her coworker, Esmeralda Lopez, who was working in the front of the store.
"Because she was holding her head, and her head was dripping," said Cormier.
“Cuando quedé atrapada, me golpeó la cabeza algo - lo que pensé mucho fue en mi hija. La tenía en la guardería y no sabía si alguien la recogería o si el tornado pasaría por ahí, si la volvería a ver. Fue muy feo," said Esmeralda Lopez.
ENGLISH TRANSLATION: "When I got trapped, something hit my head. I thought a lot about my daughter. She was at daycare, and I didn't know if anyone would pick her up, if the tornado would pass by, or if I would see her again. It was very frightening," said Lopez.
Both women now have stitches from their head injuries, Cormier with two and Esmeralda with ten. Another worker, Victor Alvarez, the butcher, was also injured.
"Sentimos que nos pasaba algo - nos quedamos ahí - yo estaba atrapado con la pierna agarrada con algo y no podía salir; alguien me jaló. Mi esposa me jaló," said Alvarez.
ENGLISH TRANSLATION: "We felt like something was happening, so we stayed there. I was trapped with my leg caught in something and couldn't get out. Someone pulled me out, my wife pulled me out," said Alvarez.
Alvarez suffered a broken foot and will be out of work for a while.
"And seeing everyone in such distress was just very scary; these people are my family," said Cormier.
Despite receiving stitches, Cormier still attended school at LSUE on Wednesday morning.
Everyone hopes they can recover and begin rebuilding the store.
Wednesday afternoon, the owner of Rheas Special Meats met with insurance adjusters to start the rebuilding process.
