Kristin Bevilacqua-Nowell was asleep on her couch when she was awakened by the sound of her kitchen window blowing out and a wind tunnel of shattered glass pummeling through the first floor of her home. Everything went dark.
Bevilacqua-Nowell, who is eight months pregnant with her fifth baby girl, ran upstairs to grab daughters Bayleigh, 6, and Jocelynn, 5, who were next to a window that had blown outward, too. Rain was pouring in.
The girls were soaked and covered in leaves. Both were still fast asleep. Bevilacqua-Nowell took her children to the basement, where they huddled in the dark for 20 minutes until authorities entered the home and told them it was safe to evacuate.
It was imperative that they get out quickly; there was a major gas leak in one of the homes. Her house sustained catastrophic damage.