OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – News 4 caught up with a southeast Oklahoma City family who survived an EF3 tornado on Sunday that's left their home in desperate need of repairs.
News 4's John Hayes interviewed Jennifer Mancheva during a live broadcast Sunday morning outside of her home. Her neighborhood, just west of Southeast 89th Street and Sooner Road, took a direct hit from the tornado. At the time, Mancheva described the storm as sounding as if something exploded, and in the later hours of the morning it was hard to wrap her head around the full extent of the damage.
"When there's so much damage, you can't take it all in at once," said Mancheva.
Mancheva allowed News 4 crews into her home on Monday to survey the full extent while her and her husband sorted through their belongings and cleaned.
Most of the damage is centered around the second floor. The roof of the home has been ripped off in several places, including over two rooms, an attic, part of the kitchen and part of the garage. A large amount of rain throughout Sunday caused a significant amount of damage that could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to repair according to Mancheva.
"We're all here," said Mancheva. "We're all struggling to get the same thing kind of done."
Mancheva's husband, Peter Manchev, fled to the United States decades ago after fleeing Bulgaria. The couple met while serving in the U.S. Air Force and say the home was a dream come true.
"Born, raised and educated," said Manchev. "When I was 17, escaped."
Both Manchev and Mancheva say their favorite place actually wasn't inside of the house, it was their backyard.
"It wasn't perfect," said Manchev. "It was kind of natural and that's what people liked."
That backyard, as of Monday, littered with debris from their own property and others. Some of their patio furniture is wrapped up in trees, and other items have been thrown onto their neighbors property.
"This was our playground," said Mancheva. "This is where we like to come out and do our thing."
They also say a small shed they had was picked up and hurled on to a roof. A secondary and larger shed they own wasn't damaged, but was shifted out of place. Their eight-foot tall fence was torn apart, along with several trees on their property.
"Oh there's my other cushion, it's in his backyard," said Mancheva while leading News 4 around her backyard and looking for any furniture that could have survived.
Manchev says as difficult as this chapter has been for him and his wife, they've been finding silver linings to get them through it with support from their neighbors and complete strangers. They said they've been offered just about everything they could need from yard help, to food and water. They're temporarily staying elsewhere until they figure out their next steps.
"There's a couple of minutes and then you know, I weep a tear or two and it's like, okay, you know what, you're getting a remodeled house," said Mancheva.
Manchev says he feels grateful to be an Oklahoman, and that neither his family or their neighbors lost their lives in the storm. Roads are still difficult to navigate, debris is still scattered in places it shouldn't be and power is out for a lot of homeowners in the area; but everyone is alive.
"It's not the place or tornado that makes the place, it's the people and this is what we like about Oklahoma," said Manchev.
