By: John Brimley, Red Cross

“I don’t even know where to begin,” said North Little Rock resident Salynthia Walls.

That is the prevailing sentiment of many Central Arkansas residents who found themselves on the receiving end of an EF-3 tornado on March 31.

With a hole in her roof and back end of her home destroyed, Walls is still in good spirits.

“I’m still here, and that’s all I can be thankful for,” Walls said.

It’s been more than a week since the deadly tornado touched down in the Little Rock area. In some yards, decades old trees that stood erect and immovable were uprooted and laying on their sides. In others, trees sit by the side of the road cut into pieces and broken down to its limbs to be transported away.

That’s Walls’s front yard.

For as much as the hole in her roof and destruction of parts of her home are a reminder of the March 31 tornado, there are moments she holds onto that bring her cheer.

“The community and everybody’s been helping me,” she said. “That’s been the upside to all of this. All this stuff can be replaced.”

Walls stood at the stove cooking steaks when sirens went off that Friday afternoon. It wasn’t until the second one that she thought she needed to take cover. She then sought shelter in the bathroom with her friend and dog. Within two minutes of taking shelter in the bathroom, she began to experience what felt like to be in a tornado.

“The house was rumbling, and I could hear all of the stuff around me falling,” she said. “I thought we should get out of this bathroom or be trapped inside.”

Her fear was realized as Walls and her group got trapped inside the bathroom. It took her kicking the door down for them to finally get out. Walls felt like her life flashed before her eyes, but when she stepped out and saw everything around her had collapsed and trees fallen all around her, she thought it could be a lot worse.

“I’m just thankful to be alive,” she said.

Walls has spent every day since March 31 looking for resources almost to no avail. She’s taken shelter with her mom and some friends. When she found out that Red Cross has a shelter and offers resources to help get things back on track, she was elated.