GRAND JUNCTION, Iowa — Fifteen months ago, a derecho moved across Iowa leaving destruction in its wake. Among those affected— the Rose family from Grand Junction.
"There's a huge branch that came off...swung around and then landed right directly...across the roof and smashed into a bunch of the rafters and different things and then took out some of the siding," said John Rose, as he described the damage his home sustained after the derecho of 2020.
This week was round two for Rose.
"The tree, we didn't know was hollow, so when the storm came through, it just busted it off," he said.
And it landed in the same spot on his roof as it did last year. And this year, the damage on the inside is worse.
"There's a branch that comes down off this tree that goes straight down through the ceiling and through the floor, down into the dirt in the crawlspace underneath. And that's actually what's holding this whole tree up right now," Rose said. "Otherwise, I think it would be all the way through that whole bedroom and into the rest of the house."
Rose said he didn't expect the storm to be as big as it was, so he was home at the time. But his wife and daughter were.
"She was a little panicked because she doesn't like storms and the tornado sirens were going off," he said as he recalled a phone call he had with her as the storm intensified.
Rose said his wife told him she and their son barely made it to the basement when they heard a frightful sound.
"She said there was a crash, and she said she could feel the floor jump up and down," Rose said.
Rose's wife didn't know the full extent of the damage until first responders arrived.
Besides the roof, much of the drywall in the home is now cracked. And the one side of the home is bowing out.
RELATED: Storm aftermath: National Weather Service confirms 9 more tornadoes, bringing Iowa total to 21
"I'm just very thankful that nobody got hurt, and they're okay. They're both shook up...even a couple days later," he said.
Rose knows the road to recovery won't be easy; he had just barely finished recovery from the derecho last year.
"I'm a God-fearing man, and I know that he'll bring us through it. But still, the uncertainty of everything really worries me," he said.
Watch more coverage of Wednesday's historic storms on Local 5's YouTube channel