Erin Napier talks about the terrifying memory she shared with her family after a tornado hit their town of Laurel, Miss 2019.
While discussing her new book, Legacy rooms at Southern Living’s Biscuits and jam podcast, Erin (38) revealed what it was like to have to shelter from the natural disaster with her husband Ben (40) and their daughter Helen (5). Their second daughter Mae (2) is not yet born.
On a night that began as a normal December evening, a week before Christmas, home town the designer was about to invite Ben’s younger brother and his wife to dinner when she heard the sound of an alarm.
“Helen was almost two years old, and the tornado siren started going off. We knew bad weather was coming,” says Erin. “I said we’d go to the closet under the stairs, and as soon as we got in and closed the door, we could feel the house move. I felt alive in a way that really scared me.”
Although she remembers hearing the house “creaking and popping,” she adds that it was also “solid” against the wind. “It felt like, OK, they’re going to do their job, they’re going to protect us, they’re going to protect us. We could hear the glass breaking, but we knew the house was holding.”
Ben Napier reveals he ‘sneaked out’ at 5am to give wife Erin a special birthday surprise
Erin Napier’s husband Ben plays with their daughter. Erin Napier/ Instagram
After it was safe to get out, Erin says her family “ran” into other rooms to see the damage.
“We had no electricity, and the front windows in our living room were shattered by debris,” she recalls. “The Christmas tree was a mess. The ornaments – many of them had broken – and Helen said, ‘What happened?’ She wasn’t really scared, but she knew something serious had happened.”
While the whole experience was “scary” and “up close,” she says it was especially heartbreaking to see the impact the tornado had on her hometown.
“It was sad to see this historic neighborhood with so many old houses lose their chimneys, but it could have been worse,” adds Erin.
WATCH: Erin and Ben Napier find a new home for a dad whose home was destroyed by a tornado in Mississippi
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The cover of Erin Napier’s new book Heirloom Rooms. Simon & Schuster, Inc.
The HGTV star goes into detail about the memory in the “Living Room” chapter. Legacy rooms, her third book which was published in early October. A personal collection of essays and photographs tells the significant story behind her beloved family home.
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After the tornado in 2020, Erin and Ben also worked to rebuild some of the homes that were damaged in Season 4 home town. They showed viewers the deadly devastation caused by the tornado in the season premiere, and in the season finale, they worked on rebuilding the house they had previously renovated before the storm.
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