'Blessing that nobody got hurt' | Pasadena church among many structures dealing with tornado damage

PASADENA, Texas — A house of worship will be relying on faith to overcome what mother nature brought to Pasadena on Tuesday.

“It was a great blessing that nobody got hurt,” Mouth of God Ministries Pastor Winston Cooper said.

He said he started the church last February. He’s dealing with devastating tornado damage less than a year later.

“Because our aim was to really empower that community in Pasadena,” Cooper said.

The entire community is in need of prayers following a storm that city leaders said they’ve never seen before.

“I’m going to step out and say we’ve never had a tornado like this in Pasadena with this much damage,” Mayor Jeff Wagner said. “I mean, it’s something we don’t want, (but) we have it, and we’ll deal with it.”

Wagner and others considered it a miracle no one was seriously injured or killed.

“I mean, we’re lucky, real lucky,” resident Levester Love said. “I’ve never been in a tornado like this, man.”

Love hunkered down in an interior bathroom with his wife and two dogs just before the tornado left a swath of destruction in the Fairmont Estates neighborhood.

“We walked out and it was all gone,” Love said.

The Loves said they lost a previous home to a fire and were happy to walk away from another disaster with their lives.

The disaster will test the will of many.

“We’re striving with our faith, trusting God,” Cooper said. “And we’re trying to see if we can get support anywhere we can.”

The Salvation Army, Academy and others handed out supplies on Wednesday in Pasadena. A second emergency shelter was also opened.