His wife, Courtney Saxton, 38, passed out because of a heart condition, he said.
Neighbors managed to ensure his family’s safety, and nobody died.
The scene was much more grim back at the factory.
Saxton survived the direct hit with minor cuts and bruises. He was pulled out with only scrapes on his back and an arm.
The same can’t be said of many of his co-workers, including three close friends and his cousin Robert Daniels, a corrections officer, who, Saxton said, was overseeing inmates from the city’s Restricted Custody Center who were working in the factory.
With the city still out of power Sunday, Saxton found himself at a shelter just outside town, where he and several other relatives who also lost their homes slept overnight.
Saxton reflected on his last moments with his cousin, a life taken literally in the blink of an eye.
Before the tornado hit, they had joked about how enjoyable and easy their jobs were — compared with other, harder jobs they’d had in the past. He said he will never forget Daniels.
“He was just always happy and had a good spirit,” Saxton said, pondering why he survived when his cousin and so many other people didn’t.
“I really didn’t think I was going to make it. If you see the people that were beside me … I can’t believe I’m even here,” he said.
Mayfield resident Colette Moorman, 30, prepared for the tornado as best as she could. She and her children also hid in closets.
Speaking from the shelter Sunday, Moorman said she knew the twister was nearby when she felt the change in air pressure and her ears began to pop.
“We lost everything,” she said.
Jasmine Blocker, 34, of Mayfield, didn’t have much damage to her home, but she still ended up staying at the shelter because she was without electricity.
“I think it’s going to take a lot to repair Mayfield. It’s not even damaged. It’s gone and destroyed. We have to rebuild, not repair, and it’s going to take from everybody,” she said.