ORANGE, Texas — A day after heavy rainfall and tornadoes, people are left to pick up the pieces.
From an aerial view, it's easy to see the severity of the damage. Homes with large chunks of missing roofs and debris have been seen around Orange and Deweyville.
Orange County Judge John Gothia announced a Disaster Declaration for Orange County Wednesday.
The American Red Cross was in Orange to shelter those whose homes were severely damaged.
Thursday night, county officials are trying to find out how widespread the damage is.
Emergency management crews surveyed Old Peveto Road In Orange, an area hit by one of the tornados. One man told 12News the tornado went by his home.
“It just looked like chocolate water filled the window,” said Orange County resident Chad Havens said. “My truck is about 10 feet away from that window. I couldn’t see my truck anymore."
He said when he started to feel the air getting sucked out of his home, he knew the low pressure was a sign of a tornado.
“It actually felt like you were on the tracks underneath the train," Havens said.
He said his home has minor cosmetic damages, but an engineered building meant to withstand 120 miles per hour winds was destroyed.
"It opened it up like a can opener the shrapnel that was flying,” Havens said. “There's a cargo trainer over there flew over the shop hit the well shed bounced off the well shed and then it threw it up against a tree."
Like many others in Southeast Texas, Havens is picking up the pieces. Director of emergency management Joel Ardoin said emergency management began assessing the damages Wednesday and Thursday. They are using drones to track the path of the storm.
“We'll actually be able to map it and see the actual path of where the storm went and see the damage that occurred on both sides of it, the wind velocity that hit. There’s a lot of things that go into it," Ardoin said.
Ardoin reminds people to be careful when you’re out clearing the debris from yards and homes and he asks you to fill out the ISTAT report if you’ve experienced damages.
RELATED: Orange County residents affected by tornadoes should report property damage via TDEM survey