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‘It's a tragedy’: Alamance County tornado shreds home of couple already under stress from coronavirus

The father had already been out of work for several weeks. A knee replacement surgery he needed to return to work was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

ALAMANCE COUNTY, N.C. — An Alamance County family says they were already struggling from the coronavirus pandemic’s impact, and now they’ve lost their home and belongings in a tornado.

The Campbell couple’s house in Snow Camp, NC, was just one of many homes in their neighborhood torn apart by the tornado that touched down early Monday morning.

The couple’s daughter, Taylor Hensley, spoke with WFMY News 2 because her parents are still unable to talk about the terrifying incident.

“My mom is very shaken up. She has been hysterical all day. My dad has been on the phone all day making calls trying to figure out what the next step is,” Hensley said.

THE TORNADO

Around 6 a.m. Monday morning, Hensley said her husband called, alerting her they were under a tornado warning.

Frantically, Hensley and her daughter rushed into a closet. She then called her mother after checking the weather radar and realizing her parents’ home in Snow Camp was at risk of a tornado.

“I called my mom and told her to go ahead and prepare herself -- and not even two minutes later, they got hit, said Hensley. “My mom was actually hit by pieces of the roof falling in from one of the trees collapsing on the house.”

Luckily, neither parent was seriously injured. But their home suffered severe damage, with trees punching holes in the roof causing extreme water damage.

The family spent the day Monday trying to make sense of what happened, salvaging what belongings they could, and planning for what’s next.

“It’s gonna be lots of hotel rooms and motel rooms,” she said.

CORONAVIRUS

Her father had already been out of work for several weeks. A knee replacement surgery he needed to return to work was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, Hensley said.

“He has been out of work for a while already. And now this happened, and it’s one thing after another for them. My mom is an essential worker. She works in healthcare, so she is trying her best to support everything. It’s just a lot piling up,” Hensley said.

REBUILDING

The couple's daughter set up a Go-Fund-Me to help raise money for her parents while they work to rebuild their lives.

“We are just very grateful they are both alive and well,” Hensley said.

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