Keishia Justice sheltered in a storage space, at the back of her business on Sept. 27, 2024.

“When it came, all I heard was the sound, the howl of the tornado, and we ran for cover,” Justice told WRAL News at the time. “When I saw my neighbors, they were screaming for help,”

Other WRAL Top Stories

An EF3 tornado, spawned from Helene, ravaged a shopping center in Rocky Mount. The storm destroyed more than a dozen buildings and injured 15 people.

A year later, Justice still finds debris in and around her shop.

“I still get chills. I’m still finding glass, debris,” she said. “When the weather gets a little cloudy, I get a just a little PTSD.”

Nash County Emergency Management estimates that it took about six months to clean up the storm damage and get some businesses back up and running. At least one building had to be demolished. Others still remain closed.

The storm left her building badly damaged. Justice temporarily relocated her business, Pretty Essentials Women’s Boutique, until she received a call from her landlord.

“We’re like the first one on the block to come back,” she said. “To know that I’m able to come back, be in the same place, I just feel resilient.”

In June, about nine months after the storm, Justice said she returned to her storefront, fully operational.

“Happy to be home. I feel like Dorothy. There’s no place like home,” she said.

But now, another storm is on the way.

WRAL meteorologist Elizabeth Gardner said we could see heavy rain through Tuesday at least, and 5 inches of rain could fall in that timeframe.

“[Last year’s] tornado spun up very quickly. With us potentially having a storm next week, it could very easily happen again,” said Trip Bunn, the director of Nash County Emergency Management.

Bunn recommends people have a plan.

“We have to prioritize certain things; we have to prioritize rescues, if they are needed,” Bunn said. “It could be a while before we could get to somebody.”