ST. CLAIR TOWNSHIP, Ohio — The Linda Mobile Home Park in Hamilton, Ohio, was slammed by intense winds and storms Sunday night that tore siding off many of the homes and moved others off their foundations.
“As soon as I stopped here, I started crying. Like dude, I can’t believe this is happening," said resident Shawn Simpson.
Simpson lives in the home with his 5-year-old daughter Bella, but now they've had to find shelter elsewhere. Simpson said he had to sleep in his car Sunday night, and his daughter has been staying with his parents.
Hear Simpson describe how the storm impacted his family in the video below:
Simpson told WCPO he was first alerted by the sound of sirens Sunday evening. When he realized the incoming weather danger, he left with his child.
Simpson said he came back to see what was left of his house. He found the home had been pushed off its base, moved several feet by the wind. The structures underneath were damaged, along with the electricity inside.
The father and daughter stayed in a motel on Tuesday. Simpson has been spending his days clearing debris and stabilizing his house with cinder blocks and wooden beams.
“Hopefully it’ll all work out," Simpson said.
When WCPO 9 visited the neighborhood Wednesday, Simpson was working on his home to prepare for another round of upcoming storms late in the evening and overnight.
"Today, I've been going around and putting cinder blocks on the corners and the outsides where it's not, to try and stabilize it, to get prepared for tonight. Because I've heard different stories about what's going to happen. Well, we don't know what's going to happen, it's Mother Nature, it's unpredictable," Simpson said.
Other utility companies, including Duke Energy and contractors, were also working on repairs throughout the mobile home park Wednesday.
The home has been in Simpson's family for three generations — from his grandfather in the mid-1980s, to his father and now to Simpson and his daughter.
"I was eventually going to leave this to her, and then this happened," Simpson said.
Simpson said his love for his daughter keeps him going as he works to rebuild and restore the home that means so much to him and his child.
“I’m doing as much as I can, I love her unconditionally," Simpson said.
Simpson's cousin set up a GoFundMe for him and his daughter, donations can be made by going to the fundraiser linked here.
