Crying Baby Led To Tornado-Hit Home Rescue

Child Was Found Between Flattened First And Second Floors Of House, Grandmother Found Dead

(AP)  A state official said Friday that a baby's cries led to his rescue after a tornado demolished his grandparents' lakeside home.

The infant's grandmother was killed Thursday in Deerfield. State Fire Marshal William Degnan said Friday that firefighters heard the baby's cries and found him in a void between the flattened home's first and second floors.

The body of the grandmother, Brenda Stevens, 57, also was found between the floors, Degnan said.

He said Stevens' husband, Harley, was blown out of the home.

"He was blown out the side of the building and found in the side yard," Degnan said.

Authorities have not released the boy's name. Concord Hospital said Thursday he had been admitted, but said the family asked it not to release further information.

Neighbors say the couple had been watching the boy while his parents, Harley Stevens' son and his wife, were at work.

Officials estimate that a half-dozen homes were destroyed and 100 damaged as violent storms swept the area.

A National Weather Service crew confirmed Friday that the storm was indeed a tornado, as some had suspected.

[mainemade]

Tornados are so rare in New England. We got real lucky in the midcoast region of Maine.
May She Rest In Peace