FRANKLIN, Texas (KBTX/CNN) - Some residents of Franklin, Texas are counting their blessings after an EF-3 tornado devastated the town Saturday.
Crystle Darnell-Whitmore and her family grew up in Franklin.
Crystle Darnell-Whitmore says, "Actually I was sitting here with Kayla, my friend, we were sitting on this porch when the weather started getting bad. The girls were out there in the yard, getting hail and putting it in a cup, and I made them come in because it started raining too bad."
She was in her childhood home when everything changed Saturday.
Crystle says, "I was actually standing right here, right against that wall, lighting a candle. I actually found a candle yesterday. It hadn't even broke."
"And this is the front door? And the side of the house?"
Crystle says, "I slammed this door shut when I saw that truck coming. I saw the wind moving it, so I slammed the door shut and everybody ran."
The storm rolled in quickly, and things got scary.
Crystle says, "The roof just came off and I was like "oh my gosh, I can't make it in there, so I hid in the bathroom with everyone else and, it was all of us, piled up in this small bathroom right here."
But, after the skies cleared, the blessings this family can see are what the storm left in its wake.
Crystle says, "Mom's cross wall, is just right there. This is pretty much the only wall still standing. There's one, another wall that she had stickers on that says faith and hope with first Corinthians 13:13 verse on there. That shows me even more that it was nothing but the grace of God that was with us that day, because if it wasn't for him we wouldn't be alive, I don't, I'm still, not questioning him, but I am still in disbelief that we're here."
The family is now working with their insurer to see what, if anything, can be recovered.
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