Julia Pennington and her brother John Dixon are thankful for their lives following a weekend storm that hit at Westdale. They live on Bundrick Road, just off Highway 1 in north Red River Parish.

John Dixon told the Journal, “It was going too fast. A shower came up. I didn’t see other clouds. I was watching TV in the living room when the porch blew off first.” Dixon went on to explain, “Then the roof came off. Everything in the house was ruined by the water after the roof blew off.” Dixon’s roof landed in the yard next to the house. His porch blew from the east side of his house, over the house and over his sister’s house next door and landed to the west of her house.

Julia Pennington told the Journal. “The way a tree was damaged by the house, it was nothing but a tornado.” Pennington said there was steady lightning, some hail, and it was raining heavily. She added, “There was no warning. All at once we (Pennington and her daughter) heard a whoof! My daughter and I got in a closet and hit the floor. We were trying to pull a mattress over us but by then it was gone” Pennington’s mobile home suffered roof damage and the wind shifted it off the support blocks in the front.

The National Weather Service office in Shreveport classified the storm as a severe thunderstorm with high winds. They do not have the incident reported as a tornado.

Dixon and Pennington are now clearing away debris from their yards. They are hoping the Red Cross can help them with recovery efforts. Pennington says her home is insured. Dixon’s home was not.

Further east on Bundrick Road there were some minor damage to homes and trees.