While Saturday’s storms did not affect a lot of homes, they did considerable damage in the areas they touched. 

On Monday morning, residents and work crews began the day cleaning up from a wet, windy weekend. 

By 9 a.m. Monday, a tree-removal company had mostly cleared Lemuell Jarrell Road of a massive oak tree that had blocked the road since Saturday afternoon and stabbed through the roof of a home. 

David Moore, the county’s emergency management communications officer, said storm damage in the McNeill area is likely the result of an EF1 tornado, which is considered a more moderate tornado. Moore said the National Weather Service will make an official designation in the near future.

The tornado touched down on McNeill McHenry road, where several oaks and other trees were snapped in half and Travis and Kathey Ladner said they barely managed to escape a camper trailer they were living in and run inside a home they’d been building before the storm touched down, picked up their Jay Flight trailer and rolled it across their lawn and into their permanent home. 

Travis said the storm also destroyed their well pump, a storage shed in back of the house and the trailer is now marked with holes, dents and dirt. 

Laci Holifield, who lives across the road from the Ladners, said the tornado touched down seemingly out of the blue.

“It was about 4:45 p.m.,” she said. “No, that’s not right. It was 4:30 p.m. and we got a warning on our phone about the weather but it was calm as day. The wind wasn’t even blowing.”

She said the warning was only good for 15 minutes. Whatever danger existed, it would be over by then, she thought.

“But at 4:47, everything changed,” she said. Outside, the air had turned eerie. 

“There was a yellowish-green haze outside,” she said. 

Holifield said she screamed for her children to get into a closet. From inside their closet, they could hear siding peel from their home and they could hear trees break apart outside. One of the limbs smashed into the family’s propane tank, and for two days the family was displaced, only returning home Monday morning. 

Across the street, the Ladners were in their trailer watching television. They’d lived in the trailer for the past eight years, slowly working on the permanent home as money would come in—both are on disability. 

“We try to do the best we can, but we’re both handicapped,” said Kathey Lander. “I have type one diabetes and he has type two and we both only have one eye each.”

Travis’ mother, Glorine Wilson said television news alerts of an impending storm was the only warning the couple had of dangerous weather.

Travis looked out the door, and he said he could see the tail of the tornado touch down across the street, and at that point he and his wife ran into the unfinished home. 

“It was like Camilla and Katrina,” he said. “I had all my 200-pounds on the door to hold it.”

After the storm, the Ladners got some help getting the trailer off the home and Wilson said someone in the family with a tractor helped right the ripped up trailer on Sunday. 

Monday morning found the three carrying armfuls of scuffed personal items and household goods from the trailer into their unfinished home. The home still needs a kitchen and a bathroom, but even with those things, Travis said the well is broken from the storm. Travis said he’s hoping to get the well fixed Monday, but even with running water, there’s still no bathroom or kitchen.

“We had a toilet in the trailer,” he said. “It’s embarrassing to talk about having to use a five gallon bucket to poo and pee in, but that’s what we got until we can get on our feet again.”

The couple is taking donations, Travis said, and if anyone would like to contribute, they may call 601-795-3640.