JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMOX) — "It takes your breath away," St. Louis resident and Jefferson City native Debora Grandison said.
Grandison and her husband went to Jefferson City last weekend to help tornado victims. The Grandisons actually grew up next door to each other on Jackson Street in the state's capital city and wanted to see their childhood homes. She said it was a like a war zone and she was nervous to see what had happened to the home where she grew up.
"I look at the house, I look up to the room I slept in. I lived in that house for 25 years (laughs) and it was gone, it was open. The brick chimney was laying outside and they had gathered bricks from the chimney and stacked them up. They were laying at my feet. I walked to the back of the house and it's all gone too," Grandison said.
She said it's incredible to see the pictures adding, "But to walk it, to walk down the street ... It's something I can't even describe to you."
Grandison and her husband went to a Costco in St. Louis before driving to Jefferson City to get bottled water and snacks. They handed those out to anyone who needed them. She discovered that houses on the entire block where she grew up had damage from the tornado.
"This was my village," Gradison said. "I was raised by my grandparents in that house, had been there since I was five years old. It really just takes your breath away."
She does plan to return to help out however she can including with Quinn Chapel AME that is offering meals, toilteries and help for those who may be traumatized by the tornado and the aftermath.
"Even though I am sad, I am overjoyed by knowing that God protected the lives of the people in the community," Gradison affirmed.