Residents try to salvage mobile homes damaged by tornado

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — As New Orleans braces for Hurricane Isaac, the National Weather Service in Florida has confirmed that a tornado was to blame for damaging 30 homes south of Brevard County.

Crews were at the mobile home park in Indian River County on Tuesday morning, picking up aluminum and other debris.

There are just hundreds of windows that need to be replaced and dozens of roofs that need repairs if the homes can even be salvaged.

Chemistry teacher Larry Hoffeditz missed the second day of school because the entire front of his home is gone.

He could barely compose himself as he told WFTV how his wife survived.

"(She) ran into a small bedroom, and it was the only room in the whole house which wasn't damaged, so praise the Lord," said Hoffeditz.

Tornado trackers from the weather service said it only took two minutes for the twister to skip across 1.6 miles. It toppled carports, twisted metal around trees, tore through stop signs and kept on going.

As Red Cross workers and insurance adjusters started collecting data, volunteers from Hoffeditz's church started helping the St. Louis native pack his belongings into a U-Haul.

"In a blink of an eye, I mean, you know. Only by God's grace my place didn't get hit. It could have happened to us. I feel for the people out here," said Steve Bozzuto.

Roe Rice said she had to break the news over the phone to her neighbor, a snowbird spending the summer up north.

"I was lucky Bev was the only one. She takes it in stride. She says its material," said Rice.

The trauma from the twister didn't fade when the wind died down. Donna Volk said she questioned her security with just plastic stapled up where windows and walls once were.

"I couldn't sleep. It was just too nerve wracking," she said.

Sheriff's deputies and park security have been patrolling the streets.

WFTV