COLERAIN, Bertie County –
Saturday, April 16th marks five years since 11 people were killed in a tornado that devastated the small town of Colerain in Bertie County. Although many of the homes have been rebuilt, reminders of that day still linger for those who survived it.
Colerain residents Ethel and Raymond Cale say they remember the day they came back home and found their home gone and their neighbors, who did not survive the storm, pronounced dead.
“I miss the trees, I miss my neighbors very, very, much. Everything is gone,” Ethel Cale said as she and her husband looked through pictures of the damage in their kitchen.
April 16th marked the largest tornado outbreak in North Carolina’s recent history and Colerain was hit the hardest.
“What you worked for, for 40 years is gone in less than a minute. I had retired maybe about a year and six months when the tornado came and I had got everything paid for and I was coasting along,” Raymond Cale said.
The couple says if it wasn’t for Ethel getting sick that day, they may not be here now to tell their story. However, their neighbors were not so lucky. They were three of the 11 people in Colerain who were killed that day.
“We were just going to keep our eye on it but she got sick about 3:30 and I got her to the emergency to Ahoskie hospital and it came while we were gone,” Raymond Cale said.
Ethel and Raymond Cale were able to build a new home, but say the memories they made in their old home are irreplaceable.
“You really don’t know until it happens to you. When you have worked for something all those years then all of a sudden it’s gone,” Raymond said.
By Aisha Mbowe
