It was the day after Christmas when tragedy stuck a community only 35 miles away from our home town. Tornadoes destroyed everything in their path and approached with almost no warning. Sadly, a family in our community has been affected.

Senior Sydney Ward’s extended family lives in the Garland area, and they were stripped of their homes and majority of their assets only one day after the holiday.

Both of Ward’s mother’s cousins, along with their own families, live in the same neighborhood with their homes being back to back from one another. Yet the damages on the houses differed. Sonya Cawthorn, one of Ward’s moms cousins, her house faced damages that literally lifted the house off the ground.

“The tornado picked the whole house up and it turned it like 45 degrees and then set it back down,” Ward said. “But the roof stayed so it is not livable because all of their walls are unsound.”

Luckily for Cawthorn, her children were at their father’s house in West Texas when the tornado struck, yet Ward’s other cousin, Kassie Anglin, had a full house the night of the disaster.

“Kassie, her three kids and her husband Keith were all home. Her oldest daughter Savannah, her room was ripped completely off the house so they just have this corner of their house that is completely non existent,” Ward said.

Sadly, each family had to deal with loiters, which are people who show up after tornadoes and natural disasters in order to take other peoples scattered belongings.

“Both families found their belongings scattered miles away from the neighborhood,” Ward said

Although Wards immediate family attempted to help their family members and others hurt by the storm, they could only do so much. Luckily, larger organizations were there to help, too.

“I know that the American Red Cross dispatched the very next morning after the tornadoes and I know my family members all went to try to help them,” Ward said. “But we couldn’t because they had the streets in and out of the neighborhood blocked off completely.”

As of now, both families are being taken care of by their insurance companies. Each are calling a local Garland hotel room their “homes” until they decide what their next step will be.

“They are kind of just trying to make the decision whether they want to rebuild in their neighborhood or move to some place better,” Ward said. “But then you have to factor in the whole kids school and what’s better for them so they are in the decision process.”