BROOKSVILLE, Ky. — After changing a tire on their car, a Covington couple with three children in tow went inside a relative's mobile home Sunday afternoon to wash their hands before heading home.

Chrissy Russell, twin sister of Angelina McPherson, is comforted by fiance James Jump in the debris of the trailer where her sister died. (Patrick Reddy photos) | ZOOM |

        Within minutes, strong winds began shaking the rural Bracken County trailer. The man and two children ran out the back to a detached garage.

        The woman and third child tried to flee through the front door when the trailer toppled forward, killing them.

        “If they had only stayed in the garage another five minutes,” said Stacy Taylor, the woman's stepfather, who was inside the garage with his wife, Cindy, when the storm hit.

        Angelina McPherson, 28, and Robin Baldrick, 11,were killed around 2:30 p.m. during severe storms that swept through the Tristate. The other three — Frenchie McPherson, 35, Brittni Mason, 11, and Luanna Beyerdorfer, 6, — escaped with minor injuries.

        The powerful storms, which hit a second time around 8 p.m. Sunday, damaged homes and took down trees and power lines across Greater Cincinnati, leaving nearly 70,000 Cinergy customers without power, mostly in Northern Kentucky.

Bill Taylor prays next to the chassis of the mobile home that toppled over. | ZOOM |

        The storms also killed a Grant County man Sunday night — James Campbell, 52, of Williamstown — who was cleaning up debris at his mother-in-law's home in Florence when a tree fell on him.

        Winds that flipped the Taylors' mobile home from its foundation were estimated at 70 mph.

        “The winds hit just that quick without warning,” said Stacy Taylor Jr., Mr. Taylor's son who was helping clean up debris on Monday. “Dad was talking about building a house because he'd felt the wind up here before.”

        The Taylors' 1998 mobile home sat on a hillside at 118 Cook Ridge Road.

        “It was anchored down good,” Stacy Taylor said. “My insurance guy said if it had been a brick home, it still would have went. ... They way it was blowing, I thought the garage was going to go too.”

        Friends gathered at the Taylors' home on Monday to comfort the family and help clean up. The trailer was destroyed in the storm, and furniture, clothing and other debris were scattered across the lawn.

        “This stuff you can replace. The lives lost you can't,” said Raba Baker, Stacy Taylor's sister.

        Mrs. McPherson, mother of Brittni and Luanna, was visiting her mother and stepfather for the weekend. Robin, a neighborhood friend from Covington, had tagged along.

        Robin was a student at John G. Carlisle Elementary in Covington, where she had won citizenship awards and was entering the sixth grade. She was the daughter of Joseph Baldrick II of Covington and Angela Haley of Latonia. Her parents could not be reached for comment Monday.

        The group was in the Taylors' garage changing a tire on Mr. McPherson's car, unaware of the coming storm.

        “We didn't have a radio in here,” Stacy Taylor said. “It didn't look like it was coming this way.”

        The Taylors' neighbor Garry Losey also lost his mobile home to the storm. When the downpour began, Mr. Losey went to his car and parked across the street, where he watched the winds rip off the roof of his home.

        “It's a total loss,” he said Monday. “I might be able to save some furniture and my clothes.”

        No one else lived in the trailer at 324 Cook Ridge Road, but Mr. Losey's terrier mix survived the storm from inside the home.

        Cinergy spokesman Steve Brash said all major power outages from the storm had been corrected by early Monday. Cinergy crews are still working today on neighborhood and individual outages numbering up to 8,000 and including parts of Taylor Mill in Kentucky.

        Terry Flynn of the Enquirer contributed to this report.
       

Prosecutor tough on riot cases
Black groups may call for city boycott
Maisonette signs up new chef
Second commissioner asks for review of Bengals lease
Child, woman couldn't escape trailer in storm
Williamstown man dies after tree falls on him
Cancer survivors praise test
Speedway to get extra exit
EPA hearing brings activists
First-time city council candidate has $126K
Housing agency gave 2 top staffers 52% raises
Juvenile court taking teen's riot case
Lawyers for Enquirer, Ventura tangle in court
Ringer tries again to have his statement suppressed
1st Ohioan named in Oxy suit
2 officials fired in Norwood
Barge strikes boat, but no one injured
Five face drug charges
Four charged in store theft
Kentucky Digest
Local Digest
New tax program to fund widening
NKU did not break records law
Officials pitch Ky. 16 options
Congrats
Couple who helped save animals from fire
Cumberland Trail efforts are renewed