RUSK COUNTY, Texas — This week marks a year since a tornado touched down right outside Mt. Enterprise and left families in distress.
Eunice Caldwell says she still suffers from a lot of anxiety. She recalled the deafening noise that let her know the twister was there.
"I walked back to my back bedroom and I heard it and I screamed," Caldwell said.
Caldwell said she woke up her daughter, son-in-law and grandchild and told them to take cover in the bathroom. She said they all got in the bathtub while the tornado passed through and even blew their door outward.
"The bathroom door actually sucked outward, but thankfully we were safe and nobody was hurt," Caldwell said.
Right next door in her camper, June Easley was saved by first responders. She recalled being trapped because the tree near her camper fell and pinned her inside the structure with no escape.
"My trailer was rocking," Easley said. "I was scared to death and then I couldn't get out so I had the fire department come out to cut me out."
The Rusk County Office of Emergency Management crews were on their way to the scene that night. Technical Specialist Michael Searcy remembers heading in that direction.
"By the time we had cut through all the trees on the roadway and made our way back there the neighbors had helped to get the person out of the home," Searcy said.
Searcy said they had two tornadoes confirmed that night. Both left behind damage Caldwell and Easley are still recovering from to this day.
"We still got a lot of cleaning up to do and there’s still stuff to be cleaned up but with time we'll make it," Easley said. "We made it on our own. We didn't end up getting any help but we survived."
Caldwell said since that night a year ago her family could sleep or eat for days from the trauma they experience. Today they still face financial hardships as they continue to recover.
"We had to worry about what was coming next and we're still a year later worried, it's really hard," Caldwell said.
After those devastating storms, the OEM stepped up ways to inform their community about severe weather.
"For the last several years we've had a notification system that's been free to the residents of our county as well as all the residents of the East Texas Council of Governments serve," Searcy said.
If you want to sign up for emergency alert notifications, you can click this link.
