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DeSoto Residents Recall Chaos Of Tornado That Hit Area

If you live in the DeSoto area....there is a date from two-and-a-half years ago you will never forget. That was the day tornados leveled houses and tossed semi-trailers like toys.

Remembering The Destruction

If you remember anything about April 3, 2012  was that it started out to be nice day. Many people like Brenda Matthews had the lawn sprinklers on - ironic for what would happen next.

"The next thing I know, tornados were not only in the area...they were right down the block." said Matthews.

It passed in seconds. Her threat was over....just as the threat was moving up the block toward S.L. Ryan.

"I didn't see it" said Ryan. But his neighbor three doors down and across the street did.

Jean Caraway had heard the alarms. A lot of us hear those things, but this time it wasn't a false alarm.

A few miles away TV viewers saw the trailers from big rig trucks tossed in the air.

From the time we are old enough to listen...we are told to duck for cover. But reactions that day in South Dallas county echo reality. With the tornado a few houses away...Jean Caraway got into her car and drove off.

Brenda Matthews picked up her phone.

But they all survived. And few could believe what was left behind.

April 3, 2012. A day for the books.

Read more KRLD Your Hometown stories

(©2014 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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