Woodland Drive in Ooltewah works to pick up the pieces after storms

OOLTEWAH, Tenn (WDEF) – The clean up continues for several locations in our area after a tornado plowed through South Hamilton County on Sunday night.

The tornadoes left behind a lot of damage in the Ooltewah area and Woodland Drive is on day 3 of the recovery process.

Today crews and volunteers are on the ground helping one man recover his mobile home and his cars from underneath several trees.

Edwin Hite was seeking shelter in his home when the strong winds from the tornado pushed several massive trees onto his trailer – crushing it.

“It was in slow motion. We were just trying to figure out what just happened. We were not really able to comprehend at that moment,” says Ed Hite, lost his home due to tornado.

Hite was trapped inside his home until Monday morning.

“We were stuck until the next day. Then, we finally had to climb out of a window in the living room on the back side. We had to climb over a bunch of debris and go through two neighbor’s yards to be able to get out of the debris field and onto the road,” says Hite.

Today, Red bank baptist showed up ready to help hite recover his home from within the destruction. 

“His trailer is covered with trees, his truck is covered with trees. We just brought our chainsaw team out with other volunteers to help clear brush and just try to make it more liveable,” says Gregg Hauss, Missions pastor for Red Bank Baptist Church.

Mission Pastor with Red Bank Baptist say the disaster team has been deployed all over the United States but working here in their home town is a first.

“This is the first time we have worked in our own city. In the time I have been in Chattanooga, the last 7 years. This is something we were not expecting to do but our team is ready to deploy whenever and wherever necessary and I think it’s great we can work in our own city,” says Hauss. 

First responders and recovery crews are asking for any onlookers to stay away from those affected areas.

Officials say the amount of traffic is slowing the recovery process. 

A pop up pantry has been set up to help those affected in that area, click here.