PERQUIMANS COUNTY, N.C. (WAVY) — “This is a picture of me when I got married years ago.”
That’s what Ty Wood said as he stood outside what was once his mobile home, but is now scattered debris after an EF-1 tornado touched down near Woodville in Perquimans County early Monday morning.
Perquimans County residents are now facing the aftermath of the confirmed tornado that injured eight people and had a peak wind speed of 110 mph, according to the National Weather Service.
The tornado’s path moving quickly northeast, touching down around 3:02 a.m. in a field just southwest of Longview Estates near Woodville Road, the weather service stated. It moved across the Little River, then across Halls Creek Road near Glad Road, with the tornado tracking near Glad Road while downing a number of trees and damaging some sheds in its path.
Its path went from about a mile southeast of Woodville to about three miles northeast of there, the National Weather Service said. In all, 13 homes were damaged, but just three were occupied, with the other 10 vacant.
The National Weather Service said the tornado lifted near the Glad Road and Simpson Ditch Road intersection.
“I felt the wind start picking, up and I dropped to the floor put my hands over my head,” Wood said, “and I landed right here beside my car.”
He had sought refuge from the storm inside his car, which happened to be unlocked.
“I just felt like it was a blessing to be able to tell the story of what I went through and to see my neighbors that all made it out in one piece,” Wood said.
Wood had his mobile home completely destroyed, the wind taking everything. The ceiling and foundation of the home were in two different spots after the events, and his interior was scattered throughout the area.
Despite this, Wood was in good spirits.
“I feel blessed,” Wood said. “You know, it could’ve been worse, but I walked away with just a scratch — scratches to my arm. And you know, sometimes you don’t see people walk away from disasters like this.”
Next door, Jerrod Grace was also in a mobile home that disintegrated in the tornado.
“Right down there was the back bedroom,” Grace said, looking at the damage. “Right here was my daughter’s bedroom. Right beside the bedroom, little bit down, was the kitchen, then the living room and another bedroom.”
The mobile home is now gone, having slid towards the road, pushing Grace’s pickup truck as it slid across the driveway.
The daughter of Grace’s girlfriend, Laquasia Hughes, was in the home, and was found by Grace screaming for help on top of his pickup truck, as she was somehow ejected from the moving house she was sleeping in, part of it having blown away and carrying her. Fortunately, she was OK.
“Her mom was yelling for her, ‘Leilani, Leilani, Leilani’ — her mom was calling her,” Grace said. “She ended up saying, ‘I’m right here. I’m right here. I picked her up at the top of my truck.”
Now remember, Jerrod’s last name is Grace.
In a warm moment in the middle of debris, the couple shared a moment, realizing everyone was OK, and that it was OK to have a light moment because everyone was OK.
“By the grace of God, I had my grace man here with his healing hands,” Hughes said, laughing.
They all found found much to be grateful for.
“My last name is Grace, so God put grace in me,” he said.
Hughes said the whole experience was terrifying. She said she woke up to the wind and rain, and to Grace telling her to hold on and to not let go.
And though the home Hughes and Grace lived in was also destroyed, they appreciate the grace that they feel saved them. The only thing left standing of Hughes’ home was the wooden stairs that led into the residence.
“By the grace of God,” Hughes said, “we made it out,” Hughes said.
