Bowling Green tornado survivor gifted car from local business owners

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) - It was an emotional day for one Bowling Green woman.

After barely surviving the tornadoes on December 11 and losing her home and car, Latonya Webb was able to cry happy tears Thursday all thanks to local business owners.

Webb has spent the last few weeks just trying to get by.

“You don’t have to go through this alone,” Webb sad. “There is so many wonderful people here. This community, this town has come together.”

For Latonya, today was a good day. A day she shed tears of gratitude all thanks to a few strangers who heard her story.

Hunstman Automotive and Soap My Ride owners, along with other community members, gifted her a vehicle.

Those grown men were brought to tears by Latonya’s emotion and appreciation for their kindness, but their generosity didn’t end there. The two men, who didn’t want their names mentioned, gave Webb a check to pay for the taxes on her vehicle.

“So much love. All my needs have been met since I lost everything and all my needs have been met by a loving community, by total strangers,” Webb said. “But, it’s amazing how everybody has come around just not only supporting me, supporting everyone. There’s so much support out here, it’s so much support. There’s so many people that’s out here willing to help.”

Latonya says she survived the tornado by tying herself to her bathtub faucet with a belt - a trick she learned from the movie, ‘Twister’, which she saw almost 15 years ago.

“So, when my roof went and I felt all the wind, the first thing I thought about was that movie so that’s when I grabbed a belt because I watched that movie one time. If you ever watch that movie, at the end when the tornado is coming, they strap themselves and the guy says that the water poles go down off in the ground. So, they strap themselves to the watermain and that’s how they survived. Now, I didn’t know it was going to work, but it was worth a try and it did,” Webb said.

She says these business owners’ generosity gives her hope for her future as she begins to rebuild her life.

“It gives me hope and it gives me motivation and it gives me a vision and a purpose that I’m going to go out and help other people the way people have helped me. People have come together to help me and it’s been so amazing. So, I need to return that,” Webb said.

She wants those who had a similar experience to know they are never alone.

“No token of appreciation is too small. Somebody gave me a bottle of water right after the tornado and I tell you, that’s the best water that I had. So, no token is too small. Everything has been greatly appreciated.”

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