Dozens of families in Laguna Heights are still trying to rebuild what the deadly tornado destroyed.

The tornado tore through a neighborhood on Wilson Street in May 2023, killing one man and injuring dozens of other people.

RELATED COVERAGE: Laguna Heights residents look toward the future one year after deadly tornado

Lizbeth Sanchez has lived in the neighborhood for seven years. She says it was raining hard that night when she heard a loud noise and remembers thinking it was a transformer that blew out because her lights turned off.

Sanchez heard neighbors yelling for help, and when she went outside to look, what she saw left her in shock.

Dozens of mobile homes were flipped over and there was debris everywhere. She says thankfully her home wasn't too damaged.

"Out here there was furniture from what the wind blew, and the fence was knocked down, but nothing compared to those who lost everything," Sanchez said.

In the past year, a lot of the neighbors have moved out or didn't return to the neighborhood because of fear.

She says her family decided to stay and took what they learned from that disaster to make a plan.

"We learned that we need to be prepared and have the necessary canned food and water," Sanchez said.

She says they also learned the importance of having their documents ready after they saw people looking through the rubble after the twister touched down.

Now that hurricane season is less than a month away, Sanchez's family has started prepping their home. They started boarding up windows two weeks ago.

Sanchez's family also came up with an evacuation plan in case of a tropical storm.