Day care director's quick actions helped keep 67 kids safe during NC tornado

St. Stephen’s Loving Daycare Center in Rocky Mount has some repairs to do after Wednesday’s EF3 tornado damaged the ceiling and shattered a window.

“We saw the devastation of everything,” Carolyn Slade said.

As the tornado approached, there were 67 children playing inside at the day care center at 3861 North Wesleyan Blvd. in Rocky Mount.

No one was injured thanks to quick actions of Slade and her staff.

“Of course, I started crying because I’m emotional,” Slade said. “It was a miracle.”

Slade described what happened Wednesday afternoon as the tornado ripped through the area.

“I came in the inside, it blew the door open, that door came open from the force, and I pushed it, I don’t know how I did it,” Slade said. “It was the grace of God, and I locked the door.”

The only damage to the building was part of the ceiling and a shattered window.

“We [were] in the pathway,” Slade said of her thought process Wednesday afternoon. “We’re going to get hit because it’s right there.”

Slade credited her training mandated by the North Carolina Division of Child Development and Early Education.

“If we have a tornado [or] a storm comes through, to take the shelter in place,” Slade said.

Slade said day care staff moved cribs along a wall further away from windows. Her plan is to reopen the day care on Monday.

Many of the kids’ parents work at the nearby Pfizer facility at 4285 N Wesleyan Blvd. in Rocky Mount. The Pfizer facility will remain closed until further notice due to Wednesday’s devastation.

Sobria Thorne, a mother whose 6-month-old son attends the day care, was on her lunch break on Wednesday afternoon.

“When I called [the teacher], she was crying from the top of her lungs,” Thorne said. “She was like, 'The tornado has hit the kid's day care. Can you please come get them? Can you please come get them?'”

“My heart dropped,” Thorne said. “I got in the car. I couldn't make it down here. Traffic was all the way down the road.”

However, Thorne wouldn’t let bumper-to-bumper traffic keep her from her son.

“I saw an ambulance rushing and police officers rushing,” Thorne said. “I parked my car in the road. I put my hazard lights on and ran up here. I had to run through cars.”

Thorne’s panic was replaced with relief when she finally made it to her son.

“As soon as he saw me, he started smiling,” Thorne said. “It made my heart feel much better.”