On her way, the scene was surreal—emergency vehicles flooded the streets, police cars and ambulances speeding past her. As she crossed the overhead bridge, she felt a wave of disbelief; it looked as though a bomb had exploded. Finally able to contact her son, she found him hysterical; the house he’d been in was gone. When she arrived, she saw he had been injured by falling bricks. Unable to reach her mother’s house, they returned to her own home, which was in disarray, with no power. The siding was torn off, a window shattered, water had flooded inside, and fallen trees were scattered everywhere, damaging the underground water pipes. They looked at the devastation and asked themselves, “Where do we go from here?”

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In the following days and weeks, the biggest challenge they faced was finding housing. They stayed with her mother for a short time before moving to a hotel for a couple of weeks. Her son’s car was totaled after a tree limb fell on it, making it hard to get to work. Securing food and water was a daily struggle as well. Just before Christmas Eve, they decided to return home. Although they had power, they were still without water, relying on friends who brought jugs to help with flushing the toilet. They lived like this for about a month until the water pipes were repaired. Supplies came from St. Jerome Church in Fancy Farm and the local school, which had been set up as disaster centers. Many organizations offered food assistance, alleviating worries about diapers, wipes, and other essentials. The tornado had left a deep scar on their community—"everything was gone, lives were lost, people were hurt.”