VALLEY VIEW — Support for tornado recovery has not been hard to find for Jeff Collinsworth. His family and loved ones have pitched in as he tackles the damage to his home of twenty years.
The tornado that killed seven hit and struck newly developed homes before continuing its path in the Collinsworth neighborhood on County Rd 2133.
“I looked to the West over here and I saw just a giant flash,” he said. “I mean, I don’t know, I can’t even explain it.”
Collinsworth said the windows in his home exploded, so he grabbed his dog, covered them with towels, and held the door. He said he just knew his life was over but hoped for a different outcome.
“And then you could just hear roaring. I mean, I can’t even explain the sound. It was deafening,” Collinsworth said.
The Valley View man said the storm moved his house from side to side. It became more frightening as the powerful winds started bumping him off the floor.
When the tornado passed, Collinsworth took a while to come out. He kept hearing screams, he said. It was his neighbor, but Collinsworth doesn’t speak English.
“And I heard him screaming. And I grabbed a flashlight, and I went over there, three people in the rubble over here,” Collinsworth said.
But he could see the need. Collinsworth said his neighbor had a broken arm. The man’s mother got trapped under debris. With help from others, she was freed. But the neighbor’s grandfather did not survive. Collinsworth said he had broken limbs, too. He said that emergency crews were slammed with calls and could not get there in time.
A body of water authorities call a pond behind Collinsworth’s house is where emergency crews found two dead children, a two and a five-year-old. Investigators said a tornado sucked the family out of their house.
“My wife says either you stay or you go,” Nicolas Navarez said. “I say… I go!”
Navarez has lived on the same street where the children were killed for 11 years. He said the family has moved in recently.
The 45-year-old father of four and husband said his family left and returned home safely. But the damage was significant.
Navarez sleeps inside his truck at night to protect their belongings. He said they lost food because of the power outage. While community members have brought food by, he’s looking for someone to help him cover up his home before forecasted rain moves in.
“And when you see it real, like in person,” Navarez said.
Navarez’s reflection on the impact brought him to tears.
“The unknown. Just the uncertainty. The power of what’s going on,” Collinsworth said. “The whole house shaking underneath you.”
Even with the help of neighbors and loved ones, the sounds of recovery can still be haunting.
“At night, hearing the guy screaming and hearing the tornado and the roar and all that, that’s the hardest thing,” Collinsworth said.
