GOODWILL, La. (KNOE 8 News) - "That's what I wake up hearing at night. The timber cracking in the house the two by fours and stuff." Said Luanne Calvert.
Waking up from a nightmare that turns out to be a reality. In January, Charlie and Luanne Calvert's home was destroyed by an EF-2 tornado with winds of 120 miles per hour. The tornado was nearly the size of a football field and tore a path of destruction about six miles long. Now, the couple of 50 years takes us through what happened that night. The initial tornado warning came from the National Weather Service-Jackson at 9:22pm.
"I was just sitting there watching TV and she came in there and sat down and I said you know they have some bad weather heading this way." Mr. Calvert explained.
"It was a woooooohhh..." Said Mrs. Calvert.
"She went outside and looked cause I have a problem hearing and she heard this noise and she said that thing must be around here close and I sat back down in my chair. She got back up and looked out there again. She said that thing is on top of us." Said Mr. Calvert.
Luanne pulled Charlie out of his chair in the living room and into this bathroom. That's when the tornado's fury bared down.
"I grabbed the door handle to shut it and I didn't get it shut. All of sudden, we heard the cracking of the timbers and the two by fours were flying through this door and it lasted about 10 seconds and it was through. We was standing here and she said well what are we going to do and I happened to have a light and I shined it up and I seen that tree right there and said we don't have a roof on the house. I had no idea what had happened and then she said well we've lost everything and I said no, we've still got each other." Said Mr. Calvert.
The Calvert's were trapped inside of their bathroom for about 20 minutes. Once they were free, they saw the extent of the damage.
"It's kinda odd. The only thing left standing was right here at this bathroom. I mean, I'm talking about right here. There was a wall right there and a wall right here and this wall and this door and everything else was gone." Said Mr. Calvert.
The Calvert's credit a NOAA weather radio with keeping them informed since there cable was fading in and out.
"It kept us inform and yes, I did have it in my hand when we entered the bathroom but after that I have no idea where it went so we have to get another one." Said Mrs. Calvert.
"I definitely would tell anybody to get one of them because we had a little radio for a long time but it quit working for a while and then Tom(Pearson) started talking about getting a weather radio we decided we ought to get one of them cause you never know." Said Mr. Calvert.
The Calvert's will not rebuild their home. Instead they are putting a new double wide trailer on their lot.
"I'll be 73 before too long, I'm not dying ready, I'm not ready to die yet so we're just going to keep on living you know. You know you look back at all the things you've accumulated over the years that's gone but you still have your health and what have you so why worry about it just keep going." Said Mr. Calvert.
"Those things are just material things so...God seen us through and He'll continuously see us through it." Said Mrs. Calvert.
