Assist Family in Recovery from Tornado Disaster

On Wednesday, June 26th, 2024, a tornado ripped through our neighborhood and picked up and flipped the RV that housed me, my two kids, ages 13 and 17, and our two dogs. We first heard the rain, then hail, then I yelled at the kids to get to the front door to get out because they always say to get out of any sort of mobile home. But when I went to open the door, it would not budge. I tried with everything I had to open that door, at which point my ears started to pop and I felt the RV lifting up in the air.

It felt like we were floating in the air so softly and lightly like we were weightless. It did this twice. Then the third time, it felt like I was just falling with no end. The ambulance said I fell about 15 feet straight back onto my back because I was at the front door when we flipped and when we landed, the front door was straight up in the air. My 14-year-old was in the very back of the RV trying to get to the front door and my 17-year-old was in the kitchen trying to get her shoes on to get to the front door, so we were all in different places when we flipped.

There was a little chicken coop house-like building right behind us that had a little porch on it held up by wooden square poles. When the RV landed, those wooden poles came straight up through the wall, which at this point was the floor. Had any of us landed on one of those, we would have been impaled and killed instantly. I still don’t understand how each of us was in the perfect place not to get killed or injured very badly.

When we finally landed, I started screaming for my kids and you have no idea how relieved I was to hear both of their voices! And then I realized my biggest dog had landed on top of me and she was trembling in fear, not able to move, but alive. I heard my son say I have Zuko, which is my other dog. We were able to get out through the back door that opens up to the storage area. (It was a fifth wheel RV) Firemen said it had to be winds of 160-180 mph because there were many trees that were debarked which I will post pics of. There were never reports of a tornado from the NWS. They say it was straight-line winds. Either way, my family went through a horrifying nightmare.

Everything is gone. The sewage tank was of course flipped and nothing salvageable. Nothing. All we have is the clothes we had on our back and our vehicle, which miraculously wasn’t touched. If anyone could help us out with money for food, clothes, and necessities, it would be so greatly appreciated.