TEMPLE, Texas — People all across Temple are cleaning up debris and preparing to get with their insurance companies after an EF-2 tornado ravaged the town on May 22. KCEN spoke with some of those hit hard by the storm.
“It's like this is a Wizard Of Oz deal, I felt like the whole house was about to blow up in circles, you know, hail so big that I had to clean this whole entire front porch out," Temple resident Michael Morales told 6 News.
Morales, an Iraq War veteran, said that the storm actually triggered his PTSD.
“It gave me the flashbacks of it, yes sir," said Morales. "This whole place was flooded, it's not like how it is now. It was flooded and I gave the City of Temple props for actually clearing this out really quickly, within like 30 minutes, 30 minutes to an hour, to clear this. They got on it first thing last night!"
Morales' neighbor Terry went into the bathroom of his home to seek shelter.
"When I heard the storm, I felt that it was going to pass, but as soon as the winds gradually picked up I had nothing else to do but to retreat back into my bathroom where I had no glass," Terry said. "As you can see, I have busted windows on the house."
Southern California native Michael Whitfield had a huge tree come down, taking down utilities with it.
"I got a few hours of sleep in between," Whitfield told 6 News. "I try and keep the generator running and everything, but it happens, you know. The storm came and this time we got hit. I’m born and raised in California. This Texas stuff, I’ve been here for 35 years but it's still something that I’m getting used to."
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