'It's heart-wrenching': Yukon man grateful to be alive after severe storms

YUKON, Okla. (KFOR) - Despite his house being destroyed in Sunday night’s tornado, a Yukon homeowner says he just feels grateful to be alive. 

"It's heart-wrenching. It does play on your emotions, at times you want to cry,” said Ray Gatto. "But we're here."

Gatto, his wife and their pets rode out the tornado inside their storm shelter in their garage. They live near NW 10th and Cimarron Road. 

"I heard a lot of thump, thump, bang and the wind,” said Gatto. "When the insulation blew underneath the storm cellar, underneath the door, I knew the house was pretty well gone." 

Gatto was unfortunately right. 

The roof was destroyed, bricks were scattered across the front yard and windows were blown out of his cars. 

“Everything's missing,” said Gatto. “We'll buy more. We'll go on. It's just part of life."

The Gatto’s were already out bright and early Monday morning cleaning up, and they weren’t alone. 

It’s another case of neighbors helping neighbors. 

"Just helping everyone that has a mess around here,” said Austin Breedlove, who lives two doors down. “I hate to see it. It's very, it's sad." 

Gatto said “This is Oklahoma” and said they’re used to dealing with storms. 

"Today is the first day of rebuilding,” said Gatto. “Here we go.”