Mary Grady sits in her neighbor's yard where she rode out a tornado in Askewville, N.C., Sunday, April 17, 2011.
This morning, Southern states face the daunting task of cleaning up after the most destructive spring storm since 1984. But a glimmer of hope emerges with the stories of saviors who acted on instinct.
At least 45 people lost their lives and thousands more lost their homes and livelihoods when the storm ripped across the South Thursday night until Sunday, leaving a trail of destruction from Oklahoma to Virginia. The storm spawned reports of more than 240 tornadoes that lifted entire trailer parks, leaving only remnants of former homes. Trees uprooted and crashed through houses, and cars were reduced to simple piles of metal. But as survivors continue to emerge, so do the stories of those who saved them.
(More on TIME.com: See incredible photos of the storm’s devastation)
The remains of the Sanford Lowe's store.
A Lowe’s store manager in Sanford, N.C., is credited with noticing a tornado on a fast tear toward his store. Quick thinking and an even quicker alert helped Michael Hollowell move all 50 employees and 60 customers to a back room, where concrete walls helped protect them as the store lay directly in the tornado’s path. The store’s roof was sheared off and its walls mangled, yet all made it out unscathed — albeit shaken. Sanford, which lies 40 miles southwest of Raleigh, saw just one fatality in the storm despite taking a direct hit by the almost 160mph winds and rain.
In Dunn, N.C., just east of Sanford, Jonathan Robinson saved his cousin’s 3-month-old baby when the twister came roaring into their neighborhood. Grabbing young Ayden tightly to shroud him from injury, he ran to a closet, but the winds ripped Ayden out of his hands. After the tornado passed through, Robinson quickly grabbed Ayden from nearby rubble and had rescuers take the baby to the hospital.
It’s these tales of heroism and instinct that we can truly cling to, even when tornadoes are ripping the very ground from beneath its residents’ feet.
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(More on TIME.com: Watch storm chasers in action)