The small town of Forney, Texas, located just east of Dallas, is just beginning to clean up after being hit by one of Tuesday's devastating tornadoes.
One family says it's nothing short of remarkable that one of their own is still alive.
Irma Mogilnicky said it's been a slow process going through piles of rubble that used to be a home.
On Wednesday, all she could do is watch her family salvage what's left.
Irma was home alone when the twister struck. She huddled inside a bathroom near a tub that connected to that pipe. She said just before the storm hit, she actually considered leaving the bathroom that she was in and coming to a corner of the house.
Had she done that, the roof would have toppled over, with her underneath.
But instead, for whatever reason, she said she stayed put. The decision likely saved her life -- at the cost of a few bumps and bruises.
She said a Good Samaritan came and got her out.
Man captures funnel cloud on cell phone camera
Ordinary people are embracing technology -- and new cell phones -- to capture the exact moment when the skies open up and a twister drops down.
For Jose Vale, it was just a normal lunch break -- until the tornado hit.
"I saw a huge bolt of lightning and a humongous thunder, so I walked outside to see what it is," he said.
Vale, who works at Millbrook Healthcare, saw a funnel cloud in the distance.
And in the Digital Age, his next though thought was to film it. What he captured was intense: a giant funnel cloud dipping from the clouds, attacking the homes beneath it.
"I was in total shock," he said. "I (wanted) to get a better shot, so I'm (moved) further this way, and I see a trampoline go way up in the air."
He said his only regret was that the camera couldn't capture what he was feeling.
"I did everything I could to get a good shot of it, but you see what you see," he said.
Couple sees positive in post-tornado damage
The small-town spirit in Forney has been on full display. Everywhere you look people are helping each other start to pick up the pieces, rebuilding what's lost.
One couple is looking at all the damage in a surprisingly positive way.
"We saw it coming over those houses and that circle, that's when my husband said, 'We've got to get out of here and get into that bathroom," June Burress said.
When the pair emerged into an eerie silence, the house had changed. There was glass all over the floor, holes punched in glass windows.
After the storm ended, the Burresses found a piece of a car in their driveway that didn't belong to them, so they talked to a couple police officers and, as best as they can tell, it came from a damaged car that landed in the middle of an open field at least 300 yards away from where the Burresses live.
But despite the damage, the grandparents consider themselves lucky.
"We just thank the lord that he protected us and that we were not injured," George Burress said.