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East Greensboro reflects on recovery four years after tornado left path of destruction

The scars left behind by the storm are getting harder to find but East Greensboro still remembers that day.

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Four years to the day later, we're remembering the EF-2 tornado that touched down in Greensboro and Rockingham County on April 15, 2018.

Friday afternoon, a wind chime melody played as Yolanda Harris sat on her porch on a warm, spring day.

"Plenty of love in the beams of this house," Harris said.

She means it. She, her husband and others signed the beams underneath the sheetrock during construction.

"Habitat for Humanity Greensboro has their name on there, Mount Zion Church has their name and so does the City of Greensboro," Harris said.

It started with a similar spring day four years ago when the melody playing on her chimes changed tunes.

"It was pretty, like now, when we went to the grocery store and could not believe that just that fast it started raining," Harris said.

Her husband woke her up from a nap that afternoon and as she came into the living room, she heard a boom.

"I fell on the floor," Harris said. "He picked me up and then two more booms hit the house."

Three trees fell on her home, knocked down by that tornado as it left a path of destruction across the eastern side of the city. Hundreds of people survived it and remember the damage.

"I had a company truck sitting up there. It blew all the windows out," Daniel Matthews said.

His mother, Ardelia Matthews, was one of the lucky ones because her home wasn't damaged. Steps away, Peeler Elementary School was torn up by the storm. It was recently demolished.

Harris' home was the first rebuilt by Habitat for Humanity Greensboro. It took more than two years for them to return home.

"I think I kissed the walls and the floor," Harris said.

Others are still waiting for repairs but recovery is slowing down.

Hampton Elementary School sits boarded up and waiting for demolition. Scars can still be found, like broken pine trees along I-785.

Neighbors said they'll never forget what they gained on that terrible day of loss.

"You found out who your neighbors were and how much people are really there to reach out and help you," Daniel Matthews said.

Now, a quiet day on the porch means more to families like these.

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