BEAVERCREEK — Wanda Layne remembers the warning she heard from Storm Center 7 Chief Meteorologist McCall Vrydaghs on Memorial Day 2019, while at her house of more than 50 years.
“I ran to the basement,” Layne recalled.
A few streets over, the Baller family received the warning, too.
“We went to the bathroom,” Ana Baller said of she and her children. “It was like a train wreck hitting. It was just so loud.”
The EF3 twister caused significant damage to homes and businesses in Beavercreek.
As part of News Center 7’s coverage of the one-year anniversary, WHIO-TV Reporter Sean Cudahy visited Beavercreek on Monday evening to report seeing homes at various stages of recovery: some rebuilt, others’ projects underway, with still other lots now empty.
For her part, Layne had significant roof damage, which is now repaired.
“I was very lucky because the people next door got hit really hard. They still aren’t back,” she said.
Monday, Beavercreek’s Chamber of Commerce said that of the city’s 125 businesses affected by the tornado, 123 have reopened.
As the city reaches the one-year anniversary, some are remembering all the help it took from community volunteers in the past 12 months.
“We had a church group come out and help us cut up one of the trees that fell in our backyard,” Eric Baller said.
Meanwhile, Layne looks back on Memorial Day 2019, still glad she heeded warnings to take cover, considering a tree fell on her home.
“If I hadn’t gone to the basement and I had been walking down my hall, I could have really gotten hurt,” she said. “It was just meant to be I guess.”
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