Jefferson City couple finally move back home after tornado

Some residents of the homes damaged by the Jefferson City tornado are just now getting back in.

ABC 17 News spoke with Debbie Lawrence and Lolita Ponder the day after the EF-3 rated tornado left their home extremely damaged. On Wednesday, they were back home.

“We’ve been luckier than most around us,” said Debbie Lawrence, who lives on Case Avenue. “Some still haven’t started repairs, some have but right now we’re just hoping maybe at some point the neighborhood be what it was before May 22.”

She said it’s hard to have such a quiet neighborhood after the storm, “It’s still depressing to look around and see how some people lost so much, and then we look at us and we’re back in already. It’s heartbreaking,” Lawrence said.

Work continues on the inside of their home, and the kitchen ceiling looks like its near collapse.

Lawrence and her wife, Lolita Ponder, rent the home, and said their landlord has been extremely helpful as they are rebuilding.

While the number of volunteers in the area has gone down, Lawrence said she couldn’t thank them enough for the help, “The volunteers were awesome, I was just so surprised to see the amount of people that came out and were just so generous with their time,” she said.

The Fourth of July holiday will allow them to finally relax a bit.

“We’re finally getting to have out first big barbecue here that we had planned on having on Memorial Day that didn’t work out,” Lawrence said.