‘A true nightmare’: College student recounts surviving EF-3 tornado after being thrown from her car

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (KMOV/Gray News) - For Mya Grimes, the events of May 16 will forever be etched in her memory.

On Friday, the senior at Jackson State University said she was just on her way home and it felt like a normal day - until it wasn’t.

“It was something straight out of a movie. A true nightmare,” Mya said. “The sky was dark, but I was just trying to make it home. My dad called me and he was like, whatever you do like, stop what you’re doing. You’re that close. Like, just get home.”

But Grimes didn’t make it home in time. She says trees started to fall around her and the rain became intense.

Grimes called her mother, Tina Grimes, out of fear.

“When I answered the phone, I just wasn’t prepared for what I heard on the other end. And she said, ‘Ma Ma, Ma, Ma,’ and just that alone... I just started saying, ‘What’s going on?’ She said, It’s taking me. It’s taking me. It’s taking me,’” Tina Grimes said.

That was before Mya’s phone disconnected. And she found herself in the line of Friday’s EF-3 tornado barreling through the St. Louis area.

“My car just started spinning in circles and circles and circles and I was holding onto my windshield or my steering wheel for like dear life and I was just praying and just screaming. Jesus, Jesus,” Mya said.

Mya said her windshield busted, and she was thrown from the car, tumbling down 40 yards at the corner of Union and Washington.

“I was crawling down the road. I really was just like, I just have to make it to the sidewalk,” Mya said

She pointed out the pole she held on to as she rode out the rest of the storm. From that pole, she was able to flag down an ambulance.

Mya was taken to the hospital, where she walked away with only cuts and burns.

Copyright 2025 KMOV via Gray Local Media, Inc. All rights reserved.