A Florida nun went viral on Twitter when the local police department shared images of her taking a chainsaw to debris left by Hurricane Irma to clean up a road.
The Miami-Dade Police Department tweeted a picture of Sister Margaret Ann, the principal of Archbishop Coleman F. Carroll High School, holding a chainsaw. They thanked her “for pitching in as we recover” from the storm.
We are #OneCommunity in @MiamiDadeCounty! Thank you Sister Margaret Ann of @ACCHS_Bulldogs for pitching in as we re… https://t.co/ELDRVnuPXN— Miami-Dade Police (@Miami-Dade Police)1505246342.0
Police later tweeted a video of Sister Margaret Ann “in action.”
🎥 of Sister Margaret Ann in action. Thank you to all of our neighbors that are working together to get through this… https://t.co/ZUJJFC2ztE— Miami-Dade Police (@Miami-Dade Police)1505247470.0
The video quickly gained attention online:
the people: there's a tree on our neighbor's property what shall we do sister: hold my rosary https://t.co/wYWHEB1iZf— Ed Wiley (@Ed Wiley)1505257430.0
Nun with a chainsaw. Watch out. Go Sister Margaret Ann! https://t.co/6WCSBa5zBo— Sr. Theresa Aletheia ☠️ (@Sr. Theresa Aletheia ☠️)1505257186.0
Do not give Sister Margaret Ann any lip in class Just sayin https://t.co/cUjdQgq3v6— DaveinTexas (@DaveinTexas)1505259610.0
THIS. is the BEST thing you'll see all week. #Irma #FLwx https://t.co/KKL79vruLz— Sarah Dillingham (@Sarah Dillingham)1505259636.0
Her chainsaw: loud. Her dogma: louder. https://t.co/dXwhGd04uo— Fr. Aquinas Guilbeau, OP (@Fr. Aquinas Guilbeau, OP)1505257965.0
A nun. With a chainsaw. Because Miami. https://t.co/K0aoxCV6T0— Marc Caputo (@Marc Caputo)1505255856.0
Sister Margaret Ann told CNN in an interview that the storm knocked over a tree, which blocked the road. She said she witnessed a driver nearly have a wreck due to the debris, so she decided to clean it up.
“There was a need, I had the means, so I wanted to help out,” she said, adding that her high school had chainsaws “sitting in the closet.”
“They didn’t belong there, they needed to be used,” she said.
“We teach our students ‘do what you can to help,’" she told the outlet, "and so this was an opportunity where I could do something to help and thanks be to God I was able to do it.”
CNN reported that an off-duty police officer captured the video when he spotted her working from his car.
Sister Margaret Ann said the officer later came out of his car and told her that city officials would clean up the mess.
“And I said, but it’s going to take them too long and it’s dangerous, people are going to get hurt here,” she said.
Sister Margaret Ann said other people, including alumni of her school, came to help her when they drove by or saw the video.
“It became a really good community project,” she said.
This nun took a chainsaw in hand to help clean up debris from Hurricane Irma https://t.co/noNcbZBrgT https://t.co/r6bixPDJx5
— CNN (@CNN) September 13, 2017