VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) – Trees down, houses condemned. Even amid all this destruction, Dusty Gray says angels were looking out for this neighborhood.
“Had it hit a foot to the left, it would have sliced the house in half and probably would have taken myself and my daughter in the process,” Gray said.
Gray says a 20-ton tree slammed onto his roof as the tornado tore through his neighborhood.
“The emergency alert came on and we switched on WAVY-TV 10, and within 30 seconds, we thought the transformer blew,” Gray said.
Gray’s home is one of nine condemned following the storm.
The storm severely damaged 36 homes. Amid the devastation, no one was seriously injured or killed. Gray said it was way more than beating the odds.
“It’s not odds,” Gray said. “Our neighborhood had angels looking our for us. There was no doubt.”
And now, the recovery is underway.
“Walk in the backyard and you still have a 200-foot pine in our backyard that will take a week and half to clean out the debris,” Gray said.
His backyard was once entirely shaded, seven massive trees creating a huge canopy. Now, the yard is nothing but sunlight and a ton of damage to clean up.
“It’s a pretty big job,” Gray said.
Jeff Walters is a part of the crew clearing streets, homes and yards.
“They keep on piling,” Walters said. “If you go down to the left or the right, there’s still a lot of debris.”
Gray said he’s lucky he has good insurance, and he’s already working with representatives on the ground. But the return home is a long way away.
“It’s going to take at least a month before we have an idea of the damage done to the house,” Gray said.
As crews work here neighbors should be very careful as some debris may still fall.