HEIDENHEIMER, Texas — Neighbors in Heidenheimer, Texas are coming together after devastating weather hit on May 22. It left their community in shambles, but people are working their best to get their lives in order.
Candace Wilcox has lived in Bell County for decades and has never lived through something like this.
"Here I am almost 68 years old and this is the first time that I've actually ever gone through a tornado myself," Wilcox said.
It was also the first tornado for her husband, Ronnie. He's left speechless, along with many others, by the damage and destruction.
"There's no words," Ronnie Wilcox said. "You really can't say. You got relief, you got happiness, you got sadness, depression, anxiety. You're worried about your neighbors. You worry about yourself, but us country people, we just put the mud boots on and we go to work. We're not gonna quit."
Two tornadoes hit the Temple area on May 22. An EF-2 tornado hit along West Adams and an EF-1 hit in the town of Heidenheimer. Both communities are still working to pick up the pieces.
"West Adams it was two, three blocks that was really devastated," Ronnie Wilcox said. "Out here, you've got about two straight miles where it just apparently stayed on the ground and went completely through here. Yeah, it was country, but every house it hit, every power tower it hit, every barn it hit, it took it out. It tore it up."
It will take time to heal, especially for Rodney Sauls and his grandchildren.
"They're still afraid," Sauls told 6 News. "I had to hold them and console them just last night when the tiny storm came and the winds were up. They thought it was happening again."
Through the tragic moments, neighbors and strangers have been coming together to help each other out. It's made the road to recovery a bit better.
"That just makes everything so much better even in the middle of a disaster," Candace Wilcox said.
"We are strong," her husband added. "We will make it."
Neighbors in the area also wanted to thank Bell County Road and Bridge. Crews have been working hard to clean up uprooted trees and debris from different homes.
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