Tornado Survivor Says News 9 Chief Meteorologist David Payne Saved His Life

When severe weather hits, David Payne and his team of storm trackers are there.

Now, a tornado victim in Ninnekah, who was home when the storm took a direct hit Friday, said David saved his life and his family.

Monday, he and David met face to face.

Kris Allen, his wife and their kids are dealing with the damage.

The tornado that hit Friday in Ninnekah and demolished their mobile home but Allen said he knew exactly when to get to his safe spot.

“You were telling the path of it and where it was coming and to get out of it and that was exactly what I did,” Allen said. “I grabbed my two dogs and we headed up to the school, and you know, we didn’t have any kind of weather up there. We just kind of watched it go through.”

His wife and kids were already there and once the storm passed, Allen headed back home only to find his house had been ripped apart.

Now, the Allen family is staying at a hotel but they plan to rebuild in the Ninnekah community which they say is coming together to help them start over.

“This whole road, they had it blocked off but there was all kinds of people just trying to get in to help us salvage what we could,” Allen said. “Have everybody pull together, you know. That’s our definition of Oklahoma strong.”