Father, son cling together in pre-dawn darkness as tornado ravages Elliott, Mississippi

FOX Weather Correspondent Robert Ray spoke with several family members who survived a tornado strike in Elliott, Mississippi, on Friday night but are left with extensive damage to their property. 

ELLIOTT, Miss. – The pre-dawn darkness in a small Mississippi town was shattered early Saturday morning as a devastating tornado ripped through the town, leaving residents to confront a nightmarish reality. 

The echoing tornado sirens had wailed for about 10 minutes before terror arrived, finding Robert Holman and his son, Mondello, inside their Elliott home about 100 miles north of Jackson.

“All of a sudden, it got like a freight train,” Robert Holman recounted, as his home suffered severe damage from falling trees. “Then all of a sudden, we just heard stuff just falling all on the house.”

13 DEAD AFTER MONSTER TORNADOES SWEEP THROUGH MISSOURI, ARKANSAS CAUSING WIDESPREAD DAMAGE

Damage left after a tornado swept through Elliott, Mississippi, on March 15, 2025.

(Robert Ray)

The 1 a.m. strike caught him and his son, like many others, completely by surprise.

“It was a nightmare,” Mondello Holman told FOX Weather’s Robert Ray. “I didn’t know what to do. I just dropped to my knees. I got so scared.”

‘PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS’ TORNADO WATCH ISSUED AS SOUTH FACES THREAT OF MULTIPLE VIOLENT TWISTERS

Damage left after a tornado swept through Elliott, Mississippi, on March 15, 2025.

(Robert Ray)

The sheer force of the storm was evident in the uprooted trees, overturned vehicles, and demolished structures that now littered their neighborhood. 

“I wasn’t expecting it to be like this,” Robert Holman said. “I just thought it was going to be a hard rain… wind blowing. But that got rough there.”

Amidst the chaos, the father and son said they formed a stronger bond with one another in the face of the life-shattering event. The shared relief of survival is evident as they look at one another now.

“I’m glad he’s with me,”  Robert Holman reflected, his voice heavy with emotion. “We could have (been) blown away. I ain’t never been through nothing like this.”

WATCH: TORNADO LASHES TRUCK AS MEN RIDE OUT STORM AT ROLLA, MISSOURI GAS STATION

The devastation in Elliott is part of a wider tragedy. At least 13 lives have been lost in Missouri and Arkansas following the widespread and dangerous severe weather outbreak that began Friday evening, with numerous tornadoes reported across multiple states.

More severe weather is expected throughout the day Saturday as the tornado outbreak crosses the central Gulf Coast states and Deep South into the Tennessee Valley. 

The Storm Prediction Center issued a Particularly Dangerous Tornado Watch for a large swath of Mississippi – including Elliott – and a sliver of eastern Louisiana through 6 p.m. CT, highlighting the extreme danger of life-threatening storms and damage to property. Additional watches may be warranted later in the day as the storms move east.

The region had already been placed in a dire and rare Level 5 risk on the agency’s five-point severe weather risk scale for portions of Alabama and Mississippi, including Birmingham, Tuscaloosa, Jackson and Hattiesburg.