When Ashley Thomas emerged from the rubble, climbing the top of her basement steps to reach the main floor, she found her childhood home completely leveled.

“My husband helped me upstairs and my brain just couldn’t take it. There was nothing,” she said.

All that remains of her property at 211 N. 4th Ave is a pile of debris. The residence, originally owned by her mother Teresa Cowan, was in the process of being renovated.

“The outside of the house needed to be fixed. We had a hole in it,” Thomas said. “[And] we were redoing the pipes. We put $17,000 into it.”

The property was not insured.

“They were trying to get insurance, but until the outside of the house was done, they wouldn’t insure it,” Cowan said. “I raised my six kids in that house. But thank God we have a big family and can all take care of each other.”

Thomas, her husband, a roommate and their 13-year-old son rode out the storm in the basement. Cowan was in Garwin. Thomas’ two daughters took shelter elsewhere. Their dogs are accounted for, but a few of their cats are still missing. The family is split up, staying with various relatives.

“We just barely got down there. It’s like, we never get tornadoes, so I thought it would go around us like it always does,” Thomas said. “We were standing outside and the funnels came down and we ran. It was two of them – coming from each side – and they kind of came together.”

Thomas said she worries not just about her house, but her family’s future. She said her husband is employed at JBS – which itself sustained considerable damage in the tornado. She said various health issues make it harder for her to hold down steady employment.

“Right now we need to find out how we get rid of the debris and if we’re going to get any help with the landfill; no one has the money for it. It’s a big thing. It’s not like it’s parts of a house. It’s the whole damn house that needs to be cleared. Nothing’s savable,” Cowan said.

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Congregants from First United Methodist Church spent Friday cleaning up glass, fallen limbs and other debris. Anna Kodis, whose husband Jeff serves as senior pastor, was in the church at the time of the tornado, along with their five children and two others.

“My kids and I were setting up for Vacation Bible School, then they went down to the boiler room when the sirens went off,” she said. “Sirens and phones went off and the sky was blue.”

Curious, she peaked out a back window. In that short period of time, the sky had changed color.

“I saw the edge of the tornado – stuff in front circulating,” she said.

They watched the storm through a tiny window in the boiler room, but visibility was limited.

A tree out front of the church crashed on top of a parked car. Both the tree and vehicle have since been removed. Kodis said damage to the church is minimal, with a few broken windows discovered.

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Kim Smith and her husband Allan were out of town when the tornado hit. The couple resides at 201 E. Main St. – on the fourth floor of the Iowa Wholesale building.

“We started getting reports of the damage, then headed home, arriving back to town at 5:30 p.m.,” she said. “I tried to stay calm, until I came over the Center Street viaduct and could see the roof of our building and could see it was going to be super bad. Our building is heavily damaged.”

The Smiths weren’t allowed to enter the building due to structural damage that first must be evaluated before people can go inside. They’re staying with her parents in the meantime.

“We’re just overwhelmed, trying to figure out what we should do – thinking of things in our apartment we wish we could have, hoping to get back in there and claim some of our treasures. But it’s just stuff. We’re safe,” she said.

Smith said she is concerned about those who aren’t as lucky.

“We’re worried about people who may not have the resources we have. We’ve had hundreds of texts and emails from people wanting to help. I’m very worried about people in this community without the economic resources.”

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Contact Sara Jordan-Heintz at 641-753-6611 orsjordan@timesrepublican.com