PORT ARTHUR, Texas — Early Wednesday morning an EF-2 tornado swept through Port Arthur, destroying homes and places of worship on its way.
For the Ford family, they feel lucky to be alive after the tornado picked up their garage that was bolted to the ground and moved it to the other side of the backyard.
"It was horrifying," Julia Ford said.
She has lived in Port Arthur for 50 years. She's never experienced what she and her husband woke up to Wednesday morning.
"I heard a big roar pass by my bedroom window and then all of sudden I heard glass breaking," she said.
The violent winds broke multiple windows, ripped off a portion of Ford's roof and leveled her garage.
"It was a garage and a building the tornado took it all down. It's flat, everything is destroyed," said Ford.
Doug Cramer with the National Weather Services in Lake Charles spent the morning tracking the tornados path.
"This tornado touched down in south Port Arthur it went and impacted several neighborhoods, including a church. The tornado then continued across Rose Hill Park. Then it crossed the levee system over the intercostal and then tracked across Sabine Lake," Cramer said.
He says it left several homes damaged and others destroyed. Its destruction is similar to the tornado that devastated orange county in January 2023.
"It impacted a neighborhood just northwest of Orangefield High School. We got a small area there where we had some EF-2 damage," said Cramer.
Ford says she feels grateful the 120 mph winds only damaged replaceable items.
"I just told my husband if that tornado would have touched down in the middle of the house instead of the front or the side of the house we wouldn't be here today," Ford told 12News.
Ford is thankful to her family and church members that helped put a tarp over her roof and salvage items from the yard. She and her husband will be staying in a hotel until everything is sorted out.