“I heard a loud roaring noise and in a blink of an eye everything went black, and my roof was gone.”

That is how military veteran Abelardo Camacho remembers his Saturday morning when an EF-1 tornado struck down in the city of Laguna Heights. Abelardo says that he had never experienced anything like the tornado and would have never imaged that they would get hit.

“I didn’t know what to do, I was scared,” said Abelardo.

Abelardo standing outside his home after it was hit by a EF-1 tornado.

Once the tornado passed Abelardo remembers crawling out of a pile of plywood and shingles that had fallen on top of him during the storm. Suddenly, he felt a chill run down his body and when he looked up, he saw that his roof was gone.

“Everything is gone, I don’t know where to start, or what to do,” said Abelardo.

Abelardo like many residents of Laguna Heights have lived there all their lives and want to be able to rebuild the place that they have called home for many years.

“I know now that the American Red Cross is here, I have hope- hope to start again,” Abelardo said.

The American Red Cross has had volunteers out in the community providing support to the residents since the tornado touched down on Saturday, May 13.

Abelardo was able to meet with a Red Cross caseworker who was able to give him financial assistance, one of the many resources the Red Cross provides to families recovering from disasters

Like Abelardo the Red Cross Texas Gulf Coast Region has assisted more than 30 families from the Laguna Heights tornado to start their road to recovery.

Learn more about how you can get involved helping your community respond to disasters by going to RedCross.org/volunteer. To support financially, go to RedCross.org/Texas.