HAMMOND, Louisiana (WAFB) – Jarrelyn Ruiz was planning to spend the afternoon at the pool with her daughter, but then clouds began to gather over her house.
“Suddenly I heard something that sounded like an explosion,” Ruiz said. “I don’t know what it was. I was just waiting for something to happen and suddenly the debris hit me.”
The debris included a collapsing roof and a tree that fell on their house, causing catastrophic damage.
In search of her autistic adult son Jarred, Jarrelyn began working her way through the maze of chaos.
“I crawled under the tree on the other side of the bar and got into the room he was in because the tree had fallen between us,” Ruiz said. “It could have hit him, but he hit a beam and rolled. He was fine, he was in shock. His eyes were wide, like he didn’t know what had happened either.”
This isn’t the first time Jarrelyn has had to rebuild. She says the repairs after the 2016 flood took all her savings and there’s nothing left to fix it all. That’s been her reality for two weeks now.
“Everything that just happened to me is so beyond my budget that I have nothing left.”
Jarrelyn prays to the angels to help her get home.
Her daughter has set up a GoFundMe campaign for her.
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