The Lambert family was stranded as a tornado destroyed their home last year in Hodges, Texas, but out of nowhere storm chaser Freddy McKinney rescued them from the chaos.
The harrowing viral video, reposted to social media late last month, showed husband Wes, wife Kasey, and their two children, son Lane, 7, and daughter Allie, 4, limping along with their family dogs toward McKinney’s vehicle as the twister was right behind them.
The incident happened on May 2, 2024.
“Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh,” McKinney was heard saying as he drove up to the leveled homestead. “There’s people. There’s people.”
Kasey Lambert ran toward the vehicle with an injured Allie in her arms.
Lane was right behind her, while Wes Lambert limped along in the rear.
“Get in the car!” McKinney cried.
“Please, God, help!” Kasey Lambert shouted.
McKinney urged the family to pile into the back seat as quickly as possible.
Should this storm chaser receive an award from local government for being a bona fide hero?
Kasey Lambert was heard assessing the injuries dealt to her young children.
As McKinney called 911, the footage showed the tornado moving away, debris flying through the air as it destroyed more structures.
“I’ve got injured people in my car right now,” McKinney told the emergency dispatcher.
This is INSANE!!!! Stormchaser rescues a family hit by an active tornado.
Good people still exist 🇺🇸 huge props to @FreddyMcKinneyR pic.twitter.com/uXZQq2LVwl
— Swig 🇺🇸 (@OldRowSwig) March 27, 2025
Kasey Lambert recounted the traumatic experience during an interview a few days later with KVII-TV in Amarillo.
“Wes and I tried to cover them as much as I could,” the mother described.
“I remember hearing glass break, and then I remember bricks coming down. They were coming down on top of us. … We just continued to brace and hold them as tightly as possible,” she continued.
“Wes reached up to cover my head. … At that point, the suction became so strong it sucked Lane from Wes’ arms.”
Lane flew about 25 feet into the air, with a brick hitting him in the head during the terrifying ordeal.
“I had to just pray, ‘God, please, please cover him. Be there for him and protect him,” the mother said through tears. “And He did.”
Despite the experience, the family escaped with relatively minor injuries, at least compared to the unthinkable.
“Wes has a broken wrist, several contusions, several bruises, several scrapes. I’m beat up,” the mother added. “But our big guy,” she went on, nodding at her little boy, “took the worst of it.
“I just remember looking over and seeing him on top of this pile of insulation. I think that saved him.”
Another prayer was answered when McKinney showed up.
“When the tornado lifted, I was just desperate for a storm chaser or someone to have seen and know that we were in desperate need of help,” she said.
“I looked up and there was [McKinney’s] car.
The family thanked McKinney, even calling him their guardian angel, and acknowledged the many friends who came to visit them in the hospital.
A cousin of the Lambert family launched a GoFundMe, which McKinney shared on his YouTube channel.
Almost all of their $125,000 in requested assistance was raised.
The online fundraiser revealed that Lane, despite enduring the worst of the injuries, was ultimately “most upset about missing his spelling test and baseball tournament” that weekend.
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