On April 3rd, a tornado hit Forney. They ended up saying that it was an EF-3. The worst of the damage was in the neighborhood right next to us, Diamond Creek. We were literally right across the pasture from where the majority of the damage was so we were very lucky. I think overall around 75 or so homes were damaged and around 25 were severely damaged. Some of the houses in Diamond Creek were completely flattened with maybe one little wall standing at the back, some were missing the entire top floor, and there were a lot that were still standing but were not livable. There were cars blown into homes and one lady's car was blown across a pasture. You could see the car from the highway on the way to our house and it looked like a flattened piece of metal. Luckily, no one was seriously hurt and it was in the middle of the day so most people had a good warning.
The night of the tornado, a curfew was implemented and only residents were allowed in the areas that suffered the most damage. The community immediately started responding. They were taking donations at a local church and relief efforts were in full swing. We went to the church to drop off money and it was crazy to see how many people were donating and helping. I think Forney ended up with so many donations and volunteers that they had to send items and people to other cities to help with additional relief efforts. My work and several of my co-workers gave me money to take to the church as well, and I know that it was definitely used and appreciated.
When you drive through the neighborhood, you can still see all the devastation and work that is left to be done. My heart goes out the all the families that were effected. I can't imagine coming home to what some of them came home to, and I also can't imagine the feelings of those that had family members at home.
Before the tornado hit, I was at work and was actually out of the office at a business lunch and had no idea we were under tornado warnings. When I got back to work after lunch they asked if the sirens were still going off and everyone was watching the weather and news videos. My family and friends started texting me and asking if everything was ok. It looked like the tornado was going right around Forney at first, but then an updated report said it was heading right at us. Colt was at the med school debating on whether we should head home or not. Our dogs were outside so he called the neighbor and she went and put them in the house for us. Then we heard that the elementary school right next to us had taken a direct hit and the high school right on the other side of us had been hit. We were right in the middle so we were thinking the worst since it had hit on both sides of us. Colt came and picked me up to head home. He was driving like a mad man the whole way home and there was traffic of course. On the way home, our neighbor quit answering her phone. We also talked to another neighbor and asked how everything was and he said he didn't know that he hadn't been out yet but he thought it hit our neighborhood. Colt's stepdad was a few minutes ahead of us so he got to our neighborhood before we did and called and told us everything at our house was good. It was very nervewracking though and it was such a relief when we got home and saw that everything and our dogs were safe.
This is a pic that one of our neighbors took. Our house is up and to the right towards the tornado.
Our neighbor that put our dogs in for us that lives across the street said she saw it touch down in the pasture about 100 yards away from her house.
Events like this makes you realize how much you take little things for granted and how you could instantly lose everything. This was the second tornado in two years so we were joking that it may be time to get out of Forney. I know that tornados definitely make me a lot more nervous than they used to.
Here are a few pics from the internet of some of the damage in Forney.
