Valley View community continues to recover and mourn one week after deadly tornadoes

“Just yesterday, by instinct, I was coming home,” said Carlos Pineda, standing on his front porch.

But now, his home of 11 years is a tangled mess of debris behind him. Only traces of the memories inside remain: a tricycle, a toy dinosaur, a puzzle piece.

It’s a loss that’s hard for some of his kids to understand.

“She started crying in her room, saying, ‘What happened to my bedroom?’” Pineda said about his 9-year-old daughter.

He explained that he was at work last weekend when his wife and four children managed to drive away just minutes before the tornado hit.

His neighbors didn’t have enough time— their family was thrown 50 feet outside their home, including a newborn baby.

Pineda said one family member is still in the hospital with injuries, but the rest survived with cuts.

“All we could do was just start cleaning up. That was our way of coping with this,” he said.

It’s been tough—even after a week of cleanup, debris still litters the properties of Valley View.

“We’ve been cleaning nonstop since this happened. Nonstop. And it still looks like we haven’t done anything,” Pineda said.

However, he noted that help from groups like Cooke County Volunteer Organizations Assisting in Disaster (VOAD) has been invaluable.

“Since Monday through Thursday morning, we’ve had over 506 volunteers bringing in and clocking in 2,663 hours,” said co-chair Bekki Jones.

She mentioned that donations have been nonstop from individuals and businesses.

“From shrink-wrap for the pallets to ponchos for the rain, nobody has said no to us. Nobody,” she said.

Jones said families can take whatever they need, and as much as they need, from food to toiletry and cleaning items, to even emotional support, like stuffed animals for kids.

“I think I’ve been hugging, oh, upwards of 20 strangers a day, just because they look like they need that,” Jones said.

She added that food and other supplies will be needed for a long time, but the most immediate needs include shop rags, heavy-duty totes, leather gloves, bug spray, sunscreen, and safety goggles for cleanup crews.

VOAD is also conducting intake and registering families to connect them with state and federal help from FEMA. Jones said VOAD plans to remain mobilized for nine to twelve months.

“As long as it takes to help the residents navigate the next step in the process to get them back to where they were pre-disaster,” Jones said.

She estimated that about 496 homes were impacted, and they’ve registered 287 so far. She encourages more families to register so they can help them and keep track of their needs.

But even with efforts to restore the community, it is forever changed.

A cross now memorializes the seven lives lost to the deadly twisters.

“You’ve got to wonder sometimes why these things happen to sweet people,” Pineda said.

Pineda knows one man who was injured and lost his wife and two children.

“It’s devastating,” he said.

While supporting his neighbors, he’s holding his own family a little closer.

“We’re just blessed to be alive, and that’s all that matters right now,” he said.