NACOGDOCHES, Texas — All across East Texas, people impacted by Wednesday morning's storms are coming together to recover.
Residents in Nacogdoches say they're just happy to be alive.
As residents left their homes this morning, heavy rain and wind gusts hit their windows.
Will Vandostrand was on his way to Tyler, but says due to the heavy rain "everybody had to pull over to the side of the road because we couldn't see at all."
Will's wife says after a few moments, it was utterly silent. It wasn't until she walked outside that she saw the damage.
Vandostrand says there were limbs and trees everywhere and power lines out of place causing power outages in the neighborhood.
The Vandostrand household says they're lucky as their home was left untouched. But for their neighbors, trees that once stood over 100 feet tall now lay in their background after being ripped from the ground.
Stuart Bryant's parents live in his childhood home. After his parents saw the damage, they called Bryant to come help recover.
"Not sure if it was a small tornado or some type of wind event certainly to have snapped the trees they did," Bryant said. "Luckily there wasn't any structure damage, we're just in clean-up mode right now."
But they're not alone as family friends and neighbors came to lend a helping hand.
Bryant said he didn't expect the support the family has received, but "it's the American way; the Texas way. We help each other in times of need."
Bryant said right now his family expects to recover for the next few days. The neighborhood is still without power and it's unclear when it will be restored.