When an EF-2 tornado hit the town of Blum on Monday night, it destroyed property and also dismantled wedding plans.
"This is where all the weddings happen," Cathy Haley said as she looked at the debris. "It's just all gone."
The Barn on the Brazos is a popular all-in-one-location wedding venue located on an 880-acre property in Blum that has been in the Haley family since the 1960s. Four weddings had been booked there for May.
Tornado Outbreak
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"It breaks my heart," Haley said choking back tears. "But our hope is that we could possibly get it to a place where even if there's hay bales sitting out here, that we are able to let them have their wedding."
When the twister hit, Haley's husband, Curtis Haley, was in the reception barn enjoying a beer.
"I didn't get to finish it," he said. "Made a beeline for the cellar."
Haley ran for the storm cellar where he had replaced the doors weeks before the tornado hit.
"Once I got in there and had that door shut, it wasn't 10 or 15 seconds before it hit," Haley said. "It was frightening."
The half-empty beer left on the bar was untouched by the tornado, but the damage across the property was extensive with some of it beyond repair.
On Wednesday, crews were on the property working to restore power. The main house, which was used for bridal parties and couples, is now a pile of bricks.
"I pulled this out of the house," Haley said, reading notes written in the front of a Bible. "Says 1965 I joined a church. I guess I got saved maybe on that date."
On Monday night, he was saved again.
"It didn't get me," Haley said. "We'll rebuild and we'll roll on."
