If you're driving in the 1200 block of West Street and Smith Street in Jennings, you may notice uprooted trees and broken branches everywhere.
87-year-old Jovita Taylor has been living in this neighborhood for more than 70 years, yet her family is facing the aftermath of a tornado for the first time.
"I was awake," Jovita said. "All of those trees were hitting on top of the house and falling, hitting the windows, the side of the windows, etc."
Jovita lives with three other relatives and was shaken up by the sounds of tornado destruction on Monday night.
"It was the tree falling that was scary," Jovita said. "It was right over me— about two and a half big trees hit the ground like this and rolled and the storm picked up again."
Jennings City Councilman, Anthony LeBlanc helped Jovita and several other residents in District D clean up their yards.
He said this was a storm he won't ever forget.
"When the storm came through, it came through so fast," LeBlanc said. "It came through like 70, 80, 90 miles an hour and it didn't last, but about 15 or 20 minutes."
In a moment's notice, Jovita's daughter, Althea said the Taylors needed help, especially because her brother relies on prosthetic legs and a handicap ramp to move around.
"I called the fire department to try to help us," Althea said. "That's what's going on now. We're trying to clean up everything so we can get the ramp back, so my brother could try to get out of the house!"
The Taylors tell me they are taking it one day at a time, trying to cope with two pick-up trucks crushed by fallen trees, a leak in their kitchen and a handicap ramp their loved one can no longer use.
Althea said she may have to explore other disaster-related options, considering her mother's homeowner's insurance will not cover all of their repairs.
If you'd like to donate to the Taylor family's GoFundMe, please click on the link below:
https://gofund.me/f22789ca [gofund.me]
