One Year Later, Tornado Victims Look Back, Move Forward With Their Lives

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VAN (CBSDFW.COM) - Brandi Bouchillon says she'll never forget May 10, 2015 as long as she lives.

It was one year ago, she, her husband Andy almost lost each other and their precious two-week-old daughter, Bailey.

They were inside their SUV in Van when an EF-3 tornado packing nearly 140 mile per hour winds tossed and flipped them multiple times, before they landed alongside a giant tree.

Bouchillon remembers sitting in the back seat next to Bailey.

"I just flipped her car seat over and laid on top of her car seat and I just said please God, just don't let my baby die, and she was still there. She was asleep the whole time," said Bouchillon.

She says she still has nightmares. "Especially when the storms start coming, so it's pretty scary."

Bouchillon says she couldn't have gotten through the ordeal without her family, friends, and their community.

"It's been really traumatic. Thinking you lost your child. It's just really scary, I don't want that to happen again," said Bouchillon.

Now, Bailey is one year old, and her mom says she's talking, walking, climbing into everything -- a very independent little girl.

"Especially with all that she's been through, I didn't think she would succeed that quickly," said Bouchillon.

The Bouchillons are now moving away from Van.

Andy has a new job in Temple where they also have family.

Progress in Van

On Tuesday evening, residents gathered at their fire station to remember the two people who died in the tornado and to continue supporting each other.

They released dozens of balloons.

In the past year, we found many signs of progress.

Most of the debris is cleared, and many houses damaged by the twister are already fixed up.

The city administrator, Charles West, says 50 houses were either damaged or destroyed last year.

Now, 25 houses are either in the process of being built or have already been completed.

On Tuesday, we found Van High School students helping their community.

Different teams fanned out across town to help anyway they could, even doing yard work as they give back to those in need.

Reid Thomas, a junior said, "Everyone is closer, everyone wants to pitch in, everyone wants to help everybody. As bad as it was, it's turned out to help a lot of people."

DJ Dutton, another junior said, "For me, it makes me feel honored to do this, to help people who are in need, who suffered from this tragedy that we had. I think this is a good thing we're doing."

Another student, Michael Huffer said, "It helps bring the community back together and it restores everything that was lost, everything that was broken in the tornado. It really makes everyone come together."

Despite the progress, there are still remnants the tornado left behind, including a shell of one house that's still standing.

The twister destroyed the city's elementary school, and now, crews are building a new one.

Van ISD administrators recently moved back into their building.

West, the city administrator says the city is also in the process of repairing 13 streets, including Pennsylvania, which must be re-built because of all the heavy equipment brought in to remove debris from the hardest hit areas.

The street repairs will cost $1 million, but West says FEMA is paying for 75 percent, while a state grant will pay for the remaining 25 percent.

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