MUSCATINE, Iowa-- Families work to salvage the only things left in a duplex off of Oneida Avenue in Muscatine, Iowa after a storm ripped through Monday night.
"Never had something hit this hard, this quick, this close," recalls Muscatine resident Holly Babcock.
When the storm hit, all Babcock could think about was her former father-in-law, Charlie, who used to live here across the street. It's a scene she can't erase from her mind.
"All of a sudden the winds got real hard, and I said "Mom, we better hunker down." All of a sudden, just really quick, you could hear it like a freight train," says Babcock.
Immediately after the storm hit, Babcock rushed across the street to check on Charlie.
"We were screaming can you hear us? Are you awake? Are you alive?" says Babcock.
And then from the basement, they heard the answer they'd been praying for. It was Charlie, pounding and screaming for help.
He was rescued out of the basement by a man Holly says she didn't know, leaving behind a few walls barely standing and furniture scattered everywhere.
Babcock says all of the stuff can be replaced, but one thing can't.
"Yeah, he can't be replaced. I thank God my daughter still has her grandpa," says Babcock.
Babcock says Charlie came out with just a scratch on his forehead.
The other woman who shares the duplex with Charlie, her family says she suffered a minor stroke and is being treated in Iowa City.