(CNN)After a tornado demolished a candle factory in western Kentucky Friday night, the Rev. Stephen Boyken climbed the rubble and heard someone beneath call out.
"She was stuck underneath a wall and asked, 'Can you hold my hand?' " Boyken recalled Tuesday.
Boyken grabbed the hand, prayed with the woman and -- along with others -- helped her stay awake until she could be pulled out of the collapsed Mayfield Consumer Products candle factory, he told CNN's "New Day."
Later, he stepped off the rubble, and saw men from his church removing debris in an assembly line and "pull some people out that are no longer with us."
The Rev. Stephen Boyken
"A lot of people were weeping. But at the same time, just as sure as there was just this grief that was coming upon us, there was just this courageous moment where people just worked together," Boyken said.
Boyken, lead pastor at His House Ministries in Mayfield, was one of numerous community members who rushed to the factory Friday night after a tornado ripped into it -- part of a deadly series of twisters and storms that left at least 88 people dead in five states, including at least 74 in Kentucky alone.
The tornado killed eight people at the factory, where more than 100 people were working at the time. The facility had been "going 24/7" in part to meet Christmastime candle demand, US Rep. James Comer, who represents the area, told CNN.
Witnesses described community members and emergency workers helping each other reach the those trapped at the site.
Another Mayfield resident, Navy veteran Adam Slack, said he went to the site when a friend texted him to say the factory had collapsed.
Photos: Deadly tornadoes hit central and southern US
People gather at a vigil on Tuesday, December 14, in Mayfield, Kentucky, for those who were killed when the roof collapsed at a candle factory.
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Members of the Bowlin family keep warm next to a wood fire in the front yard of their home on December 14, after losing power in the aftermath of a tornado in Mayfield, Kentucky.
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Christie Bonds sits with her 6-month-old dog "Jingles" in a shelter for the displaced, as she waits to be transported to better accommodations, in Wingo, Kentucky, on December 14.
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Devin Carlton consoles his fiancee, Asiah Alubahi, outside of where their former apartment used to be in Mayfield, Kentucky, on Monday, December 13. "We came back to try and recover the ultrasound of our daughter that we lost to a miscarriage in 2015," Alubahi said. "I started crying when we found it."
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Hannah Binder climbs out of her car in Edwardsville, Illinois, on December 13. She was gathering some personal items from the car after it had been hit by a tree on Friday.
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Anthony Vasquez plays with his 4-month-old son, Michael, inside a makeshift shelter in Wingo, Kentucky, on December 13.
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J'il Wimbley looks over his sister's high school yearbook, which he found in the remains of his father's home in Mayfield on December 13. Wimbley's father, who was the only one home at the time of the tornado, took cover under a dining table as the home collapsed.
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The devastation in Mayfield is seen through a broken bedroom window on December 12.
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Red Cross volunteers sort donations at South Warren High School in Bowling Green, Kentucky, on December 12 for people affected by tornadoes.
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Search-and-rescue crews work at the Mayfield Consumer Products candle factory early Sunday.
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Desiray Cartledge, 3, stands in the rubble of her house in Dawson Springs, Kentucky, on December 12.
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People gather belongings from a damaged home on December 12 in Mayfield.
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A family photo lies among the debris inside a house on December 12 after a tornado in Dawson Springs.
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James Strickland prepares breakfast on the porch of his father's home on December 12 in Mayfield.
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The front steps of a house are all that remain standing among storm damage in Dawson Springs on December 12.
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Destruction is seen in Mayfield on Saturday, December 11.
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A damaged theater is seen in Mayfield on December 11.
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Irene Noltner, in a pink hat, consoles Jody O'Neill outside The Lighthouse, a women and children's shelter that was destroyed in Mayfield.
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Volunteers at Henry Moss Middle School arrange donations for tornado victims on Saturday night in Bowling Green.
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Chris Buchanan, center, and Niki Thompson, right, attempt to rescue Cheyenne, a dog, from a tornado-damaged home in Mayfield on Saturday.
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An overturned tree sits in front of a tornado-damaged home in Mayfield.
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Kenny Sanford exits his mother-in-law's apartment through a collapsed wall on Saturday in Mayfield.
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People stand among the debris in Mayfield.
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A person stands among the damage and debris in Bowling Green on Saturday, December 11.
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A birthday card lies among the debris in Mayfield.
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A man walks through a damaged area at Reelfoot Lake State Park in Tiptonville, Tennessee, on Saturday.
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Severe damage at the Monette Manor nursing home in Monette, Arkansas, is seen on Saturday. In the northeastern Arkansas city, at least one person died after a tornado damaged the nursing home Friday night, trapping others inside before they were rescued. At least 20 people were injured at the facility, Mayor Bob Blankenship told CNN.
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A trail of destruction is seen in Bowling Green.
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Tom Wheeler with Peel & Holland Insurance removes what he can from his office in Mayfield.
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People work at the scene of a train derailment in Earlington, Kentucky.
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Damage to Emmanuel Baptist Church in Mayfield is seen on Saturday.
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Employees and friends of La Azteca try to salvage food items after the eatery was destroyed in downtown Mayfield.
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A derailed train is seen amid damage and debris in Earlington.
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Emergency workers search through what is left of the Mayfield Consumer Products candle factory.
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Heavy damage is seen in downtown Mayfield.
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People search through rubble in Mayfield.
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Damage is seen in Dickson County, Tennessee.
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Debris and structural damage can be seen at the Mayfield Consumer Products candle factory in Mayfield early Saturday.
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Rescue personnel work at an Amazon distribution center in Edwardsville, Illinois, that was heavily damaged during storms on Friday, December 10.
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"As a community, we all came together and started clearing the roads and getting the debris off the roads so that the paramedics and fire (personnel) could get in there to the ... candle factory," Slack told "New Day" on Tuesday.
Eventually, Slack helped a survivor from the site.
"The poor woman, she would not let go of my hand. I asked her multiple times if she was OK physically. She says, 'Yeah ... I just want my dad,'" Slack said..
"Got her back to my vehicle, gave her some shelter, blankets, kept her warm ... . She kept telling me to go back and help somebody else. I said, 'Well, I want to make sure you're OK first,' " Slack recalled.
He lent her a cell phone, and she called her father, who arrived to pick her up, Slack said.
The factory site was "horrific," he said.
"If I talk about it a little bit too long, it'll bring tears to your eyes. ... The wind was still going. Power lines, there was a couple gas leaks. People everywhere. It looked like a mound of ants when you kick it over. Everybody is trying to help, (trying) to get in and get people out safely," Slack said.
