Tornado cleanup continues near Celina

CELINA, Texas — A small army of volunteers descended Tuesday on Prairie Meadow Lane, the Collin County street hardest hit by a tornado Saturday night.

At least six houses are damaged beyond repair. Of these, two are flattened and unrecognizable.

Other homes in the neighborhood suffered serious damage but appear habitable. A handful of homes on either end of the block suffered little or no damage.

“I'm trying to salvage as much as I can,” said Jenn Sharber, whose home is lost. “We’re trying to get back to normal.”

Sharber and his family moved to Texas in 2007, shortly after Hurricane Katrina destroyed their home on the North Shore of New Orleans.

Sharber's husband, Terry, knocked on doors Saturday minutes before the tornado arrived to warn their neighbors.

Ron Price was in bed when he heard the doorbell.

“He said to me, ‘Go to your shelter, Ron. There are tornadoes right outside your door,” Price recalled.

He and his wife went up to the shelter and waited. Price said the storm sounded like hammers hitting the walls of the shelter.

Next door, Jenn Sharber said Terry returned to the shelter about a minute before the tornado hit their home.

“I finally told my son-in-law, 'Go over there and yell at Dad that he has to come in here or we're going to close the door because I have to protect my grandbabies,'” she said . “He arrived just in time.”

Moments after the storm passed, Price, Terry Sharber and another neighbor rushed to another house that had been flattened. Price said the trio cleared the rubble and brought to safety the children they found underneath, including a baby “not much bigger than a Gatorade bottle.”

This baby and his family survived. No one died on Prairie Meadow Lane.

U.S. Rep. Keith Self took to the streets Tuesday to help connect residents with insurance adjusters. Some owners have complained that they have not yet heard from their insurers.

“Help from neighbors is there,” Self said. “What we need is official help from insurance companies.”

The street was without power as of 5 p.m. Tuesday. Many residents have booked hotels or moved their essentials into their RVs.

Price said he slept on his tile floor to stay cool.

American Red Cross volunteers canvassed the neighborhood Tuesday and dozens of Celina residents offered help.

“I'm sure it will kick in once the adrenaline wears off, but for now I'm just grateful,” Jenn Sharber told WFAA.

“We have lived in the Celina community since 2013 and it is our home. This is where we want to be and we will rebuild and we will be stronger for it,” she concluded.