This 20-year-old university student was pulled from her car and flung down the street while she was speaking to her mother on the phone. It was a scary moment that transformed a routine commute home into a battle for survival in the middle of a ferocious tornado.
A strong EF-3 tornado ripped through St. Louis on Friday, May 16, 2025, profoundly changing the life of Mya Grimes, a prospective senior at Jackson State University. She was directly in the path of the storm as she drove home down Pershing Avenue.
Mya, a St. Louis native, described the day to First Alert 4 as starting out normally. “It was something straight out of a movie — a true nightmare,” she said.
She noted that despite the dark skies, she pressed on, encouraged by a call from her father. “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.”
The weather deteriorated before she could get to safety. She contacted her mother in a panic as the rain got worse and trees started to fall all around her.
Tina Grimes recalled the distressing call, “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 start saying what’s going on? She said it’s taking me. It’s taking me. It’s taking me.” The call then disconnected.
Caught directly in the tornado’s path, Grimes recounted the terrifying moments inside her car. “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 just was praying and just screaming. Jesus, Jesus,” she told First Alert 4.
Grimes was thrown out of the car as the windscreen broke. She slid close to the intersection of Union and Washington, about 40 yards down the street.
Despite her injuries, she managed to flag down a passing ambulance and crawled towards a light pole for protection. A hospital released her with only minor burns and cuts.
On May 17, Grimes shared her experience on Instagram, describing the event as a moment of divine protection. She wrote, “i walked out of a tornado today… the tornado picked me up, spun my car atleast 10 times, threw me out of my car, my body slid 40 yards down a busy road, and i crawled to a light pole until i could flag down an ambulance [sic]…” Despite the severity of the event, she emphasized, “i’m not lucky, im BLESSED. …GOD KEPT ME [sic].”
She reflected on the physical and emotional toll of the incident and urged others to consider the importance of spiritual grounding, writing, “PLEASE, please, get right w God. you’re not too young, too far, too imperfect, too late [sic].”
The fact that Mya survived is evidence of both luck and fortitude. Despite being injured and having her car damaged, she managed to escape the tornado alive. The day that began as a routine journey has now become a sobering reminder of the unpredictable nature of nature and, for Grimes, a profoundly intimate moment of faith