Recovery efforts are underway for many residents in Evangeline Parish after tornadoes ripped through Ville Platte Sunday morning.

One resident’s shop was damaged off of Johnson Road in Point Blue.

Robert Johnson said, “This was an old dairy that was here since the 50’s, and it passed through Hurricane Audrey, Katrina, Lilly, all of them. Never did any damage, and after this weekend, when I walked up, it took the complete roof, cinder blocks, and everything, and passed it through my work building over here.”

Robert Johnson built his shop in 1983. It’s on the property of an old farm that included a dairy for milking cows.

“I don’t even know where half of the roof and the metal building and the top is. I don’t even know where it went,” explained Johnson.

Johnson’s shop had surpassed through several hurricanes before, and never had any damage. He didn’t expect to see the extent of what it was Sunday morning.

“It just really messed up everything we had,” added Johnson. “So now, we have a lot of work to repair. This is inside my shop. This is the west side. The rafters and the studs and stuff from the dairy, probably the roof, came through my shop, and it was resting in here… threw the air compresses, the tools.”

Johnson said he knew it had to be a tornado.

“All the roof was gone. Just like if you took a saw and cut it. It’s probably 200-300 yards behind us. God can do what he wants. We don’t give up. We’re just going to fix it and go ahead again. It’s all we can do.”

Johnson said the main thing is that he and his family are okay.

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