A heartwarming act of bravery during a recent tornado in Michigan has captured the hearts of millions on TikTok.
A Ring doorbell camera recorded the moment a woman named Rileyann (@riley22ann) rushed to assist her 93-year-old neighbor during the storm. The black-and-white footage shows her son opening the door, followed closely by Rileyann and the elderly woman, who lives alone.
The video, captioned “We made it to the basement and stay safe during the storm,” has garnered 29.9 million views. In the comments, Rileyann shared: “We’ve been neighbors for [five] years and she is my bestie. I would never let her ride it out alone.”
In another comment, she said: “She chooses to live on her own. She is a widow and has an amazing family! They didn’t just leave her. I was in contact with them before the storm hit and it went from 0 to 100 real quick. So instead of them risking getting in their car to drive to get her. I just brought her over to me. Quicker and safer for all.”
Tornadoes Strike With Little Warning
This touching moment comes during one of Michigan’s most active tornado seasons in years. The state averages around 15 tornadoes annually, which are known to develop rapidly with little advance notice, according to Michigan.gov.
The average lead time for a tornado warning is just 10 to 15 minutes, and winds can exceed 200 mph. As a result, Michigan residents are strongly encouraged to plan and prepare well before a storm hits.
On Sunday night, more than 100,000 homes and businesses across five states were without power, with Missouri, Michigan, and Arkansas among the hardest-hit, according to PowerOutage.us.
Online Reactions: From Praise to Laughter
The TikTok video sparked an outpouring of praise and emotional responses online.
“Thank you for looking out for her!! We just had tornado warnings the night before last. We had severe heavy, thunderstorms and high wind, and then a tornado warning. It was crazy. We had bad storms last night, but not near as severe. Looking out for your neighbors and the elderly is such a wonderful thing to do,” wrote one user.
Another added, “The fact that you thought about her. That’s ya’ll grandma now.” To which Rileyann responded, “Yes, she is! I’d risk it all for her.”
While many were touched by the story, others found humor in the reaction of Rileyann’s son. As they enter the house, he can be heard singing, “on my way to the liquor store,” much to the internet’s amusement.
“He really said ‘[on my way] to the [liquor] store’ in all of that chaos,” one commenter joked. Rileyann replied: “For real, I was like okay maybe he will be a police officer, fire fighter, or some other job that you have to stay calm in stressful situations.”
Newsweek is waiting for Rileyann to provide a comment.
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