A Kentucky family is reeling after their trailer home was destroyed during a Saturday tornado - less than three years after a different twister decimated their original house.
"We never thought that it would happen again," Devin Johnson told the Associated Press.
Johnson, 21, lives in Barnsley - a small, unincorporated community in western Kentucky. In December 2021, a violent tornado tore through the town and upended lives. Just a few years later, history seems to be repeating itself.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear declared a state of emergency, after residents of the Bluegrass State experienced winds of up to 165 degrees ripping through their towns. Johnson's family watched in horror, from a friend's home, as the severe weather got closer to their community.
"We just all had that feeling that we just lost everything again," he told the Associated Press.
Johnson rode out the 2021 storm in his family's trailer. With no basement, Johnson had to lie on the kitchen floor with his grandparents, his sister and her boyfriend. His aunt and uncle, who were in the trailer's hallway, used a mattress to shield themselves from the storm's dangers.
"You start hearing a roar and then the entire house started shaking," Johnson said of the 2021 tornado, according to the Associated Press.
"The power started flickering and the windows just shattered. And then all of sudden you just feel the wind and pressure and this roar just ripping through the house and it starts tugging on you and trying to drag you out."
While the family was insured during both storms, the prospect of rebuilding again is daunting. They're currently staying in a motel and struggling to determine their next steps.
"All we know for sure is we're not going back here," Johnson said. "It's going to have so many memories of us losing everything."
