Two young twin girls in Upstate New York were killed when winds from a severe storm knocked a tree over into their home — as neighbors heard horrifying screams their mother let out while they were lost in the debris.
Emily and Kenni Bisson, 6, were sound asleep in their beds at around 4 a.m. Sunday when ferocious 95 mph winds and heavy rain from an EF-1 tornado caused a massive maple tree to knock over and slam into the roof of their Clark Mills home, WSYR-TV reported.
The force of the falling tree was enough to crash through the roof of the home, then drive through the second story before hitting the first floor, where the twins and their mother, Kayleigh Bisson, 37, were sleeping, the Oneida County Sheriff’s Office confirmed.
Their neighbor, Jared Bowman, told Syracuse.com he rushed over to the home when he was alerted by the noise and saw Bisson trying to escape through a window.
Another neighbor and member of the Clark Mills Fire Department, Rick Carollo, said the crashing of the tree jolted him out of his sleep. Moments later, his phone went off with a message saying the home next door to him needed immediate help.
“I found the mother in the front window,” he said. “I had to climb a tree to get her out.”
Bowman said the mother of two went into a panic when she realized her twin girls were still trapped inside.
“She was yelling, ‘Get my kids out!’” Bowman told the outlet. “But there was no noise. It felt very eerie and bad.”
Carollo said he went searching for the girls through the debris, finding one of them.
However, he said he quickly discovered the 6-year-old had no pulse.
When first responders arrived, they were able to locate both twins and pronounced them dead at the scene.
The mother and her twins had only been living at the home for a few months before they were killed, according to the outlet.
Emily and Kenni were first-graders at Clinton Elementary School.
“Earlier today, a severe weather emergency in our community resulted in the tragic loss of life, including two of our elementary students,” the Clinton schools superintendent, Christopher Clancy, wrote in a statement to parents and faculty of the district Sunday.
“Our hearts are with all of the families and loved ones affected by this tragedy.”
Clancy also wrote that counseling would be available for students.
The twins were known to be “very popular in their small town for their enthusiasm, laughter and most of all their smiles to everyone in the community,” a GoFundMe set up to help their mother cover funeral expenses said.
“These girls were known throughout town. They were apart of softball, soccer, dance, gymnastics and so much more. They always kept everyone smiling and made people remember what life was all about. They walked through life smiling, dancing, and belly laughs that lasted for days. They were incredible artists that had an enact for a paintbrush and some chalk.”
The winds from Sunday’s EF-1 tornado also killed another Upstate New Yorker in a separate incident, the Oneida County Sheriff’s Office said.
Shelly Johnson, 50, died after a tree crashed through her roof while she was sleeping in her bed.
The storm was devastating enough that Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency in 32 counties due to the intense storms and forecasted extreme heat.
The National Weather Service is sending personnel to inspect the storm damage in Clark Mills, according to Syracuse.com.
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