The tornado took so much, but they have each other
As the Friday night news was warning of an EF2 tornado, Bruce and Ona Dunlap’s cables suddenly went out.
Bruce opened the door of their Logan County, Arkansas, home to find out what was happening. “When he stepped outside he told Ona, ‘It’s awful quiet outside and there’s no wind — there’s nothing out here,’” Julie Moore, an honest friend of the couple’s, told The Dodo. “She said, ‘Oh yes there's. Get to the storm shelter now.’”
The couple will need work soon. One rushed to their housemate’s room to assist the handicapped man into the storm shelter. Meanwhile, Bruce looked for the couple’s four cats and two dogs.
One cat, Ladybug, was missing, and their dog Dasha refused to travel outside. Bruce was forced to leave them. “Dasha could sense that something was wrong and she or he visited the kitchen and lay down,” Moore said. “Bruce didn’t know what to try to... by the time he need to the storm shelter he could barely get the door to shut.” The tornado touched down, tearing the roof off the Dunlaps' house and scattering debris and belongings everywhere. Once they finally emerged from the shelter, it had been so dark, they couldn’t even tell what a part of the house was still standing.
The next day, the Dunlaps and a couple of friends were surveying the damage when a fluffy face emerged from the wreckage. “Dasha came running out like, ‘Why did y’all wait so long?’” Moore said. “Ona just grabbed her fur and grabbed her face and began lecture her, saying, ‘I’m sorry. We’re here.’”
Moore took his phone out of his pocket and took a few touching photos of the reunion. “[Ona] talks to her sort of a person and Dasha actually responded sort of a person — they kissed one another ,” Moore said. Ona and Bruce were so grateful for Dasha's safe return, but they were still missing one member of their family — their cat Ladybug.
Then, a miracle happened: The cat found her way back to her mom. “She was wet, she was cold and shaking,” Moore said. “One just grabbed her up and began pulling the sheetrock out of her fur, and just squeezed her and hugged her.” “One thing Bruce said once they found both of them and she or he was hugging them," Moore added, "he said, ‘There’s your kids.’”
The Dunlaps have an extended (thanks) to go before their family is going to be settled again, but they're so grateful that all of them made it through the night. Fortunately, they need the support of the community, and the community is helping Dunlap in any way possible.