N.C. residents check homes torn up by storm

April 29--ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. -- Colbert Respass stood pensively in his debris-strewn yard Monday, surveying what was left of his house of 20 years, blown off its foundation and crumpled by a windstorm that swept the Mount Hermon neighborhood days earlier.

"All I can say is, I'm glad to be alive," said Respass, 49.

His wife, Kim, sat watching from the back of an SUV, her injured leg in a brace.

"I still can't process all this," she said.

They weren't alone. Scores of homeowners began the week wondering how to right their lives after several tornadoes tore through the area Friday evening. An 11-month-old Chowan County boy identified as Gavin Soto suffered fatal injuries, but few other serious injuries were reported.

The Respasses had just sat down to dinner when the one-story house began to shake and the lights went out amid a sudden, deafening roar of wind and hail.

They jumped up and ran into the bathroom, and the roof disappeared. Rain began pouring in, and the floor buckled beneath their feet.

"It seemed like it was going on forever," Respass said. Then it fell silent.

When he stepped outdoors, he said, "I wondered where all the other houses went. Then I realized, it was my house that moved."

It had come to rest 10 feet behind its foundation. Their belongings were scattered around the yard and in a field behind the house. Clothing and furniture lay soaked. A red-and-white stuffed toy dog sat slumped in a clump of grass.

"I don't know what I'm going to do," Respass said of his plans, whether to rebuild or relocate. He said he will meet with an insurance adjuster this week.

Their house suffered the worst damage in the neighborhood. Another home sat askew around the corner, pushed off its brick foundation. A State Highway Patrol car parked on the grass was dented and covered in debris.

Work crews were busy attaching blue tarps to the roofs of dozens of houses. Piles of tree limbs and other debris lined the curb.

At the Meadowland Mobile Home Park a few miles away, Michael Robinson said he felt lucky. The home he shares with his wife, Belinda, came through the storm undamaged.

His wife's cousin, who lives next door, was not as fortunate. Her home lay crushed under a tree snapped in half by the wind.

The cousin was not at home at the time.

"She's safe. We're glad about that," Robinson said.

Hers was one of four mobile homes destroyed in the storm, said H.V. Coly, who runs the park. Two were turned on their sides and partially collapsed. About 30 others sustained minor damage.

"I've been here for 40 years and we've never had tornado damage before," Coly said.

"I guess those are pretty good odds."

An elderly man was in his home when the storm flipped it over, Coly said. The man escaped through a window and was treated at a hospital for minor injuries.

"I guess we made out pretty good considering what we've got to work with," Coly said.

Jeff Sheler, 757-222-5207, [email protected]

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