MELBOURNE, Fla. — The Melbourne community is still picking up the pieces from an EF-0 tornado that hit the community last month.
The National Weather Service said the tornado went through the Ixora park neighborhood and stayed on the ground for three minutes.
The impacts from the tornado can still be felt today.
Melbourne resident, Joshua Haas, said he remembers seeing the tornado as if it all happened yesterday.
Now he’s trying to get everything back on the right foot as his home saw significant damage from the tornado, which produced anywhere between 65 mph to 85 mph winds.
Cracks align the ceiling, walls remain bare, part of the roof still gone, where a blue canopy now replaced the missing parts of it.
Haas is making do with what they have.
“We just finished the mold remediation and water remediation. So, they peeled off the carpet, cut off the walls, and made sure there wasn’t any more water damage. But in the process, they found asbestos tile underneath our carpet. So, then we had to have the asbestos abatement team come in and remove that,” Haas said.
Even though the process of rebuilding isn’t easy, Haas is glad the community stepped up to help when he needed it most.
“Policemen were here. We had neighbors come and help us pick up fragments of the shrapnel that was flying around,” Haas said.
Throughout the many challenges thrown his way, Haas is just trying to focus on the here and now.
“The rest of the construction, we just play it by ear, day-by-day,” Haas said.
Haas hopes they will finish construction in a few months.