VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — A lot of us remember where we were the night of April 30 when an EF-3 tornado ripped through Virginia Beach, breaking windows, tearing roofs off, toppling trees and damaging over 100 homes.
Six months later, brick by brick, the residents of the Great Neck area are building their neighborhood back up.
“You're missing your dwelling, your place,” said Virginia Sutton, one tornado survivor.
I met Sutton out where her home once stood before the EF-3 tornado hit.
“We heard a train. We didn't even have time [before] we heard the noise. And we ran to my hallway. So, it was pretty intense, but yet pretty quick,” she told me.
The storm knocked a tree over splitting her house in half.
“It was like just a bomb went off. It was... terrible. In the beginning, all I did was cry. It's taken five months, and two weeks for this to start,” she told me, referencing her home.
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Six months later, they’ve just recently begun construction on her new home. I asked her what the last six months have been like for her.
“Not as easy as people think. And not only that, look at the age. When you're young, you can do anything, we could do anything we did a lot. But when you get older, this does not help.”
According to the city, more than 100 homes were damaged. The National Weather Service says wind speeds were estimated between 140-150 miles per hour.
“People had a very short warning... to get in the middle of their houses to find a safe spot,” said Larry Torrence, a neighbor of Sutton’s. “So [it's] almost miraculous that nobody was injured in that.”
The tornado’s path of destruction ripped roofs off of homes, shifted them off their foundations and broke windows — leaving immense damage in its wake.
“Virtually everything outside of my house was damaged and had to be repaired. So, we've been dealing with insurance companies, contractors, subcontractors, you name it for the last six months,” said Torrence.
Some barely escaped with their lives.
“We just never stopped to think that, 'Oh my god, you know, 30 seconds ago, we were sitting in that very spot,'” said Al Chewning.
Chewning and his wife were sitting in their living room when a tree crashed right through the middle of their home. They haven’t been back inside since that night, and living out of suitcases and boxes hasn’t been easy.
“You're full of boxes. And so... at least once a week, it's like, 'Where is that?' And you tried to go through and remember what box it was in... It's just, it's not home,” Chewning said of the challenge.
While the city tells me damages are estimated to be over $15 million, residents tell me it’s been an uphill battle to get back into their homes.
“There's material shortage, there's worker shortage, you know, and then there's all kinds of paperwork,” said Chewning. “It's just the way it goes.”
“My insurance company has been as good as they can be, you know, but none of them are going to cover everything,” said Sutton.
“The process is time-consuming. It tests your patience. But in a good, close-knit community like this, as long as everybody kind of bands together and helps each other and supports each other, it's just a matter of endurance,” said Torrence.
“We have been through trials, tribulations, challenges, but we always come through. I take a lot of pride in saying that the strength of Virginia Beach is the people of Virginia Beach,” Mayor Bobby Dyer told me.
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Mayor Dyer told me he was in awe of how the community came together to help each other out, but he was most thankful that no one was hurt.
“The most gratifying thing was there not a loss of life, and that is indeed a miracle,” said the mayor.
But even miracles can take a little time — residents tell me they’re working on building back stronger and are looking forward to being back in their homes.
