Retired veteran couple rebuilds after surviving tornado that destroyed Grayson County home

GRAYSON COUNTY, Ky. (WDRB) — A retired couple in Grayson County, Kentucky, whose home was shifted 53 inches off its foundation by an EF2 tornado last week, is now living in a camper while fighting their insurance company to recover losses.

Christopher and Sharon Palmer, both retired veterans, were inside their home in Wax, Kentucky, on the evening of July 21 when the tornado struck.

"I was sitting in the recliner had the dog in my lap," Christopher Palmer said.

Sharon Palmer had just walked into the kitchen to make her husband toast. As the storm hit, she ran back to her husband and their dog, Angel.

"He said, 'let's hold hands,' so I grabbed his hand and he was holding on to Angel and we was just holding on for dear life," Sharon Palmer said.

The couple said the house "exploded" around them. When the storm passed, Christopher Palmer looked up.

"There was no roof — we were looking at the sky," he said.

Sharon Palmer said she told her husband she was prepared for the worst.

"I said if we're going to die, we're going to die together," she said.

The National Weather Service later confirmed the storm was an EF2 tornado with peak winds of 115 mph.

The tornado damaged at least 20 buildings and injured multiple people in Grayson County, one of several Kentucky counties hit by severe storms that day.

In the more than a week since the tornado, neighbors in the lakeside community have provided the Palmers with meals, storage, a place to stay and hours of help clearing debris.

They've helped their neighbors as well.

"Each neighbor's helped each other — all for the next week we've been over at everybody's house just helping," Christopher Palmer said.

Inside the home, mold covers the ceilings, broken glass covers the floors and many belongings have been destroyed.

"Every time I pick something up in here I get cut, stabbed, whatever," Christopher Palmer said.

The Palmers said the insurance process has become another challenge. Before they can be reimbursed, they have to document every damaged possession.

They said that's difficult to do with much of their home and belongings buried under debris or destroyed.

"You've got stuff all broken up, what do you do with it?," Christopher Palmer said. "It's all broken pieces — you put it in a pile and say this was so and so and so and so."

Despite the damage, the Palmers said they plan to rebuild on the same property.