KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — West Knoxville families are still trying to figure out their next move after an EF2 tornado ripped through several neighborhoods Monday.
One family just finished renovations on their home on Bob Grey Road earlier this year, but now they are starting over.
Donna Stokes was working from home on Monday. Her seven-year-old daughter was home with her and she was starting to get scared by the storm.
“I put her in the corner of our basement away from the windows and I said, ‘You stay right here this is the safest spot for you.’ When I said that the power kind of flicked on and off.” She added, “About a minute later, we hear this huge boom, this crash in the house, glass is shattering. Next thing I know, I hear rain, and I smell the rain coming in and it’s just raining on the inside of my kitchen.”
Stokes and her daughter were uninjured but their home was destroyed.
While showing the damage with her phone, Stokes said, “This is my home. You can kind of see part of the sycamore tree that fell. This is our entryway, our ceiling is wide open here.”
She added that there is still standing water in their basement.
Their insurance company is supposed to come out to inspect the damage but they have no clue what the immediate future holds.
“I’ve been staying with my parents who live locally,” she said. “They’re off Western Avenue. So we’ve been staying with them for the time being until we can get temporary housing.”
Friends of the Stokes have set up a GoFundMe to help.
“There’s just so many things that we have to pay upfront for a little bit and you know, we were kind of reluctant to do it because we are never the people to ask for things, and after I saw the extent of the damage when they took the tree out of the house, I mean my house is like 75% damaged, I was like, you know what, I will take whatever help I can get,” Stokes said.
Stokes is still shaken up by what happened but is grateful her family is okay.
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“This is really traumatizing, to be honest,” she said. “I mean that’s the most important thing- We’re alive.”
Stokes shared that a week before this tornado hit, her home was struck by lightning. They were still working on getting that issue fixed when this storm happened.
