Baby Angel Babcock's Grandmother Mourns Loss of Entire Family in Tornado
Kathy Babcock made the decision to take the girl off life support.
March 5, 2012 -- The death toll from dozens of tornadoes that ravaged parts of the Midwest and South last week has reached 39 with the death of Baby Angel, the toddler found next to the bodies of her family members in a field near their Indiana home.
She died Sunday from traumatic brain injury after her family removed her from life support.
Fifteen-month-old Angel Babcock was taken by helicopter to Kosair Children's Hospital in Louisville, Ky., Saturday and placed in critical condition. Angel died at 4:10 p.m. Sunday afternoon after her grandmother, Kathy Babcock, made the decision with other family members to take her off life support.
"I had my arm around her when she took her last breath," Babcock said in an exclusive interview with ABC News. "I sang to her itsy-bitsy spider."
Angel's mother, Moriah Babcock, 20, father Joseph Babcock, 21, and two siblings Jayden and Kendall were found dead in the same field as the toddler Friday afternoon. Angel's grandmother told ABC News that when she let her granddaughter go Sunday afternoon, she knew the baby girl was going in the arms of her father.
"We were all around the bed, I had my hand on the side of her, and I reached for her hand, and was holding her hand," Babcock said. "I don't know what made me let go but she put her arms straight up, she was daddy's little girl. So daddy picked her up and took her. The whole room seen that. He was just like, standing in front of her. She wanted to go with daddy."
Now the family and friends of the Babcocks are faced with the task of burying five of their loved ones.
"They need to have a proper burial," family friend Sherry Young said. "That's my dream, that's my prayer. I've been praying and praying that this can happen for them."
The Babcock family has turned to their community for help in burying their loved ones and has set up a Babcock Family Fund at Bank of America to help pay for the family's funeral expenses.
"I know it's tragic we lost all five of them and it's hard that we did," Young said. "The one thing I can say, they're all together and that is comforting. Knowing they are together because they were together day in and day out and they'll always be together."
Tornadoes Ravage South and Midwest
A state of emergency was in effect in western Kentucky, where 20 people were killed by the dozens of tornados that ravaged the area Friday, leaving many cities looking like warzones.
The tornados hit 19 counties and left at least 300 people injured in Kentucky.
Here are photos of the destruction.
Gilber Acciardo of the Laurel County Sheriff's Department in Kentucky said many of the injuries are serious. "Lost legs, amputations for sure, a lot of serious broken bones, a lot of severe injuries, head injuries," Acciardo said.
The town of West Liberty, Ky., was completely flattened by the twister. Dozens were reported missing overnight and at least two people were killed.
Hundreds are now sleeping on the floor of the city's elementary school, which has been turned into a Red Cross shelter. With only ravaged homes to return to, these people could be sleeping at the school for weeks.
"The only thing I could think to pray was 'In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost,'" resident Martha Jo Hall told the Herald-Leader. "And He took care of us."
Officials are going door to door in many communities, looking for survivors.
Clean up efforts are now underway across the Midwest. In Tellico Plains, Tenn.,the town is picking up after a twister 300 yards wide traveling at 120 miles an hour left enormous destruction.
In Henryville, Ind., the last five pews at the Catholic church are covered with bags of donated clothing and other relief supplies and an adjacent room is filled to the ceiling, while water bottles donated for police and volunteers are stacked on street corners.
"That says that everybody is coming together when family and friends need help," Sandy Graham said.To find out how to help the survivors of the devastating tornados, click here.
ABC News' Alyssa Newcomb, Adam Sechrist and Keturah Gray contributed to this report.