I was whipped up in a tornado and thrown 100 yards as it flattened my home and dumped belongings 11 miles away

Daily Mail​

14-06-2025

The teenage son of The Wire actor Tray Chaney has broken his silence after a powerful tornado ripped through his home, hurling him nearly 100 yards from the second story.
Malachi Chaney spoke out this week following the devastating EF-2 tornado that struck Henry County, Georgia on May 29, and expressed his gratitude to those who helped him survive the traumatic ordeal.
Sucked into the vortex and violently thrown about 300 feet - roughly the length of a football field - Malachi suffered severe injuries.
His father, meanwhile, was knocked unconscious as their home collapsed around him, completely destroyed.
Malachi, a college student, sustained broken ribs, extensive scrapes across his body, and fractures in every bone of his face. He spent more than a week in critical condition at Grady Memorial Hospital - 37 miles from their home in Locust Grove.
'I wanna thank everybody for supporting me. It means the world,' Malachi said from a wheelchair, wearing a neck brace.
'It's going to be one of the greatest comebacks that you have ever seen in your life,' he added.
Now on the road to recovery, Malachi has begun rehabilitation at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, according to 11Alive News.
His father, best known for playing Malik 'Poot' Carr on The Wire, was also injured during the storm. He suffered a head injury when the house collapsed and regained consciousness only to find himself buried in debris and mud as neighbors rushed in to pull him out.
Remarkably, the only item he found in usable condition was his cell phone.
Initially, no one knew where Malachi was. After a brief search, they discovered the teen had been flung into the woods near their home.
'I just remember turning to my right and my walls, and my TVs and my dressers and my bed turned upside down and I levitated in the air,' Tray said through tears while recounting the terrifying moment to TMZ.
'I just remember covering [my face with my arms] like this, yelling my son's name out.'
Tray has since described both himself and Malachi as 'superheroes' for surviving the tornado.
'I watched my life flash before my eyes,' he said. 'We survived a tornado... Me and my son went to war with a tornado and survived.'
Tray's wife, Ayesha, was not home during the storm but returned shortly after to find their home in ruins.
With their lives turned upside down and their belongings destroyed, the family has launched a GoFundMe to help cover emergency expenses and begin rebuilding.
'In just minutes, everything we had - a lifetime of memories, belongings and the roof over our heads - was gone,' Tray said. 'But we're still here. Malachi is living and breathing.'
In a remarkable twist, they later discovered Malachi's high school diploma 11 miles away from the remains of their home.
The family is currently staying with relatives and focusing on Malachi's continued recovery.