Jessica Patterson’s house on Pearl Street in Whiteland was destroyed in the March 31 tornado. The family found a new house, and is working to move on following the disaster where they lost everything.
Submitted photoNearly a month ago, they lost everything. A pile of rubble and a few walls remain where their house once stood.
Jessica Patterson and her family are building back their life after their home on Pearl Street in Whiteland was destroyed by the tornado on March 31.
Patterson rented and lived in that house for nearly three years with her three children and husband, Zach. The night of March 31 still rings clear in her head.
She was home with her husband and 9-year-old daughter during the storm, and they were asleep until a tornado warning on Patterson’s phone woke her up. They watched the storm, and heard the sirens go off. Then, the power went out. There were a few seconds of eerie silence before the tornado hit, Patterson remembers.
“It hit within five seconds of us getting into the closet. I saw the roof come off the closet we were in. I can still hear my daughter’s blood curdling scream of fear,” Patterson said.
In the immediate aftermath, they were trapped inside the small closet they took shelter inside. Rubble and collapsed walls surrounded them. They waited for a neighbor or first responders to come help them out. Patterson said she could stick her arm out enough of the cracked door to wave a flashlight to flag people down.
“We would be quiet until we heard voices or heard somebody walking, and then we would start beating on the closet door screaming for help,” she said.
Her family came out uninjured, but everything they had was gone. They stood in their home, where areas that were once rooms were gone, with their belongings strewn out all over the yard and under piles of pieces of their house. Their one car was also totaled by the tornado.
“It’s hard to describe. Once there was a room there, now there’s nothing. Everything is gone. It took out the house. It totaled our vehicle. Everything,” Patterson said.
In the days following the tornado, Patterson and her family grappled with the question, what now? Where do you start? They had to evacuate the house the night of the tornado and did not return until two days later. Friends, family, neighbors and community members helped them pick up what was left of their home.
Patterson still isn’t sure what was salvaged from cleaning up.
“I had so many people helping me that you know, they were just looking at things and said, ‘this isn’t broken, put it in a bag,’” Patterson said. “I haven’t had time to go through everything.”
She’s thankful for all the help from her friends and family, and the Whiteland community. So many have come together to help with cleanup and donations. Patterson’s mother set up a GoFundMe for her, and it’s raised over $2,400 so far.
The items lost can be replaced, and Patterson is grateful she and her family are alive. The closet they took shelter in was one of the few structures left standing in their home.
Patterson goes back to the house almost every day to continue cleaning up, or just to go by if she is in Whiteland for something.
“I just walk into everything scattered around. This was our life … it was everything we had. Thank God, we are alive,” Patterson said “I just look at the roof. I remember watching the roof rip off and hearing the boards rip apart and the sound of a freight train outside the door. It was terrifying.”
She also goes back to look for one of their cats who has not turned up since the tornado. The cat, Ghost, is a white male cat. Patterson is continuing to ask everyone in the area to be on the lookout for him.
In the last three weeks, the Patterson family has tried to return back to normal, and start fresh. They don’t plan to return to their house in Whiteland because their landlord does not plan on rebuilding, Patterson said.
A week after the tornado, they bought a new car, and they just recently signed a lease on a new house in Indianapolis. Patterson feels like moving on to normal has gone fast, but also slow at the same time. It’s important for the family to get back to normal for her children, she said.
Her landlord is taking care of most of the damage assessment reporting. Patterson has been using what resources she can for help, including the services that were at the Family Assistance Center in Whiteland. The next step she said is contacting the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, which has been on the ground helping victims in Whiteland since last week.
“It feels like it was so long ago, because the last three weeks is just dragged on. But no, in reality, it hasn’t been that long ago,” Patterson said. “We have really fought hard to get our lives back on track, because we’re not going to let this get us down.”
HOW TO HELP
Patterson family GoFundMe: bit.ly/3KVw3xC
General monetary donations to Whiteland can be made at jccf.org
HOW TO GET AID
Residents who sustained losses because of severe weather late last month can apply for federal assistance in three different ways. The deadline to apply for FEMA assistance is June 14:
- Online at DisasterAssistance.gov
- By phone at 800-621-3362. TTY users can call 800-462-7585; 711 or Video Relay Service users can call 800-621-3362.
- Downloading and using the FEMA App
The FEMA helpline will be available from 7 a.m. to 1 a.m. daily.
To apply for assistance, residents need the following information:
- Address with zip code
- Condition of damaged home
- A general list of damage and losses\
- Insurance information, if available
- Social Security number
- Banking information, if they choose direct deposit for funds
- Phone number where they can be reached
- Address where they can get mail or an email address for electronic updates
Source: Federal Emergency Management Agency
