Rocky Mount still recovering one year after 'war zone' tornado
ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. (WTVD) -- A third-generation Rocky Mount small business owner said she has a lot of anxiety as we approach the anniversary of Hurricane Helene, when an EF-3 tornado touched down.
Kezmit Howard knew the storm was expected to do a lot of damage and made the decision the night before to close her daycare center.
She was entrusted to watch 35 children at Forward Thinkers.
"Something inside of me was like, 'No, I need to close all the way down,'" said Howard.
Her small business was in a shopping center that was hit by the tornado.
"That building in front of us, they chose not to close that, that day, and people were trapped inside of their building and bricks were on top of them," said Howard.
Nothing, money, anything was not worth it to be open that day.- Kazmit Howard, day care owner
She eventually saw the damage at her daycare center.
"The windows are blown out, glass is everywhere, my furniture is messed up, the whole area is gone," she said.
Howard had been in that spot for 10 years.
She just moved into a new building nearby and is thankful she followed her gut that day.
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"To me, the risk was not worth any kind of reward. Nothing, money, anything was not worth it to be open that day," said Howard. "For me to inconvenience my parents that day, I think they was happy to be inconvenienced. They had to watch their guys. So to this day, I would never underestimate inclement weather or a threat or a warning or anything at all, because who would have thought?"
Fifteen people were injured and more than a dozen buildings were destroyed during the tornado.
"We actually had footage of it kind of spinning up across the highway, over the car lot, and coming across," said Nash County Emergency Management Director Trip Bunn. "The main thing is, it was just property damage. One serious injury, but overall, no major injuries and no loss, no loss of life, which was the most important thing."
Hing Ta Restaurant saw extensive damage. Walls were ripped off, and concrete cinderblocks were tossed around.
Customers who were inside eating described debris flying everywhere, and outside in the parking lot, vehicles were flipped on their side.
A construction crew is now ripping out the installation and furniture to soon start renovating the inside.
"This is the first time I saw a concrete brick wall that breaks like that," said construction worker Kevin Lee. "(It's) probably the most damaged construction I've ever seen."
