PANTEGO — In the wake of the April 7 tornado that ripped through northern Beaufort County, one family to lose their home has been given hope. Tuesday, the Van Essendelft family was given a home to replace that which they lost in the tornado.

Mark Van Essendelft, who was at home with his family when the tornado touched down in the field just behind his house, said the house was donated from a Hyde County farmer, Ray Tooley. Tooley had been looking to get rid of the house and advertised it as free; the only stipulation was the new owners would be responsible for transporting it to the new location.

Van Essendelft said he had heard about the offer prior to the tornado, and initially had the idea of using the house for rental property purposes. However, after the tornado destroyed his home, when Essendelft heard about the house again, it would prove to serve a much bigger purpose for his family.

“I called and asked if we could come look at it and see what it’s like,” Van Essendelft said. “It’s a pretty nice house inside. It has hardwood floors and everything. It’s an older house, but it’s pretty nice inside. The kitchen is remodeled, one of the bathrooms is remodeled, so it wouldn’t take a whole lot of work inside to get it going.”

The Van Essendelfts, at that point, debated what to do, Van Essendelft said. Should they build a house? Should they move the house offered to them? They wondered what they could afford and did not know how much insurance they would receive on their lost home. After realizing they would not receive enough insurance money to build a new home, Van Essendelft decided transporting the house would be the best decision, Van Essendelft said.

Steiner and Daughters, a professional moving service in Pantego, moved the house for the family, Van Essendelft said. The brick exterior was removed from the house and after bracing it properly, the house was loaded onto a trailer and transported from Hyde County to Pantego.

Currently, the property is being prepped to set the foundation of the house and to set the house, itself. There have also been contributions from members of the community, including a local contractor who is donating a couple of beams to reinforce the house’s structural strength, Van Essendelft said. Van Essendelft also plans to do some add-ons to the house to accommodate his family of seven, such as bringing the wall in the kitchen out 12 feet. He hopes the project to be done by Christmas.

The family of seven was at home the day of the tornado and luckily escaped, Van Essendelft said. Not only did they lose their house, but they also lost a 50 ft. by 80 ft., three-story barn, Van Essendelft said. Van Essendelft was in the barn, showing his sons how to change the oil in the lawn mowers just before the tornado ripped through his property. He heard about the tornado warning from a neighbor, but went about his business as usual. Soon, when he realized the tornado was literally in his back yard, Van Essendelft rushed to his house, evacuated his family and they sought refuge in a drainage ditch in a nearby field.

“I was in the barn and I heard a roaring noise,” Van Essendelft said. “It got louder and louder and I looked out the back of the barn and I could see the debris flying everywhere. I ran in and told everyone to get in the ditch, so we went there. When I jumped off the porch, the tornado was taking the barn.”

At the time, Carla Van Essendelft, Mark’s wife, was pregnant with their fifth child, who was born days after the tornado touched down. Luckily, the entire family survived. The tornado lifted the house and tossed it about 200 feet across the yard, Van Essendelft said.

“The tornado went right over top of us,” Van Essendelft said. “If we had stayed in the house, we would’ve been dead. There’s no question about it. My house was gone. It wasn’t damaged — it was gone. We have said many a prayer of thanksgiving.”

Van Essendelft has been asked why he made the decision to get his family to the ditch instead of seeking refuge in the house, he said.

“You just don’t know (what to do),” Van Essendelft said. “Conventional wisdom tells you to get in the bathtub, but when you see a tornado coming straight towards you…I remember when I was a kid in school—I went to Terra Ceia—and when we used to have tornado drills, we would get in the big canal. So, I don’t know, maybe it came back to my mind from that. But I knew a double-wide couldn’t sustain a direct hit from a tornado.”