BELL COUNTY, Texas — A Bell County family is counting their blessings after being in the direct path of an EF-3 tornado Tuesday evening.
The Rios family is made up of husband and wife, Joel and Vanessa, and their two children, a 6-year-old and an infant.
Tuesday evening all four of them were at home, which is off of FM 2843, when a tornado touched down.
6 News walked the property where the Rios' mobile home sat, but there is nothing but rubble to show for it.
Many are calling it a miracle that all four of them survived the storm and the damage it left behind.
Geneva Granado received a phone call from her daughter, Vanessa, moments after the tornado ripped through the home.
“She was just saying mom, mom – my children, tornado, it just took my children," Granado recalled about the phone call. "She was all hysterical because she didn't know what was going on. She couldn't move, she didn't know where [the kids] were, so she was looking for them, trying to see. She could only hear them crying. Hoping that somebody would stop by and help them out as soon as possible."
Granado tells 6 News that 3 men eventually stopped and helped them out.
All four members of the Rios family were transferred to area hospitals where they still are as of Wednesday night.
6 News is told Vanessa and Joel are in the ICU unit and they both have had surgeries but are doing well. The 6-year-old daughter has a lot of broken bones, but she is doing relatively well and so is her younger brother, too.
Family and friends of the Rios say the mobile home was thrown, split and shredded into pieces.
When a 6 News crew walked the property Wednesday they saw the frame of the mobile home was bent and twisted in many different directions, childrens toys scattered along the property, as well as appliances torn into pieces.
Joel has worked for Solana Ranch for more than a decade and that's where him and his family lives, on the edge of the ranch.
Mike Michaux is the owner of Solana Ranch and says the Rios are apart of their family and walking up to see what happened at their property wasn't easy.
"It's just shocking to get here and see what happened," he said.
Michaux immediately rushed over to the Rios home, but it took a while as first responders had the roads blocked off. He had to cut through the ranch to get to the edge of the property.
"To hopefully find that they're okay, but when we got here things just looked very grim," Michaux recalled.
All they saw was rubble and no signs of the Rios family but that was because they had already been taken to hospitals. Those searching their property, including Michaux, were able to recover very few items.
All their belongings are described as a total loss.
Stephen Perez, the brother to Vanessa, decided to start a GoFundMe to get his relatives back on their feet and help rebuild the home that they cherished so much.
"She talked about it for years - wanting her own home to raise her family in and she finally achieved that and just for it to be all washed away within minutes really brought her down and took a mark on her," Perez said.
The goal is to raise $80,000 for the Rios and they've already had great support.
"It feels good, it's very heartwarming to see how fast people can act here in the state of Texas," Perez added. "It's amazing."
"I thank all the people for all they do," Granado said. "For showing their love and appreciation for the people here in Texas and for showing their love for my family."
Now, they're hoping to pick up the pieces for the survivors, the Rios family and get them on the road to recovery.
"We need to get this cleaned up," Michaux said. "I don't want them to come back to this, they don't need to see this."
Donations are also being accepted at Michaux Holdings/Solana Ranch Main Office at 213 Mill Creek Drive, Suite 110.