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WASHINGTON TERRACE — Even after the large cleanup efforts after last week’s tornado, many homeowners are still putting their lives back together.
Dozens of families are still waiting to get back inside their homes. In some of those cases, it's still not safe.
People like homeowner Paul Hulet, who no longer has a power box at his home because it was ripped out.
"It's like a disaster area; glass all over the inside,” Hulet said. “Glass all over the inside of the house. Don't want to go around too much in there. Too dangerous."
Others, like Beth Kimber, are now returning home. She spent her first night back thanks to a generator supplied by her son.
"It was hard for me to leave my home with this many owies, it really was,” she said. “It was hard to leave my home in such a condition."
Still, she considers herself to be one of the lucky ones. Just a few smashed windows, some pictures that suffered some water damage and a camp trailer that landed within feet of her home.
"I don't know what your faith is. It doesn't matter, but angels watched over my house,” Kimber said.
Rough estimates for damage are coming in around $3 million in Weber County. The estimates are still unknown in Layton.
Washington Terrace City manager Tom Hanson said workers are still calculating the damage, but it seems unlikely that federal help will come into play.
"As far as a tornado, that was never really on our radar,” Hanson said. "The FEMA threshold for any help from the federal government is over $4 million of public infrastructure that was ruined.”
Hanson and many homeowners agree the one positive out of all of this is that the community was and is united in helping one another.
"I can't say enough about the support of the community. Helping take care of things, making sure we're all taken care of,” Hulet said.
“I have just been taken care of in a miraculous kind of a way,” Kimber said.
The Governor's office and the Department of Public Safety are also looking at damage totals from the storm, but they too said it's unlikely it will be enough to qualify for federal help. Meantime, Washington Terrace City is giving homeowners free inspections and permits for repair work.
Contributing: Xoel Cardenas
