VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) – The Great Neck community is picking up the pieces after a tornado hit the area.

Julia Trice’s grandparents lost everything.

“Everything is a total loss. They worked really hard to get where they are. Now, it’s all gone,” she said.

That home is where she spent most of her childhood.

 “All of my childhood memories are in this house,” Trice said. “All my cousins are coming over. All the neighborhood kids that were my age, we played all day, all night.”

Now, it’s just memories.

Trice said, thankfully, her grandparents weren’t home.

It’s because she brought over her grandmother’s favorite treat.

“I knew my grandma loved lemon cake, so we were going to come to drop them off.”

Trice said she tried to deliver it earlier in the day but her grandparents weren’t home.

She stopped by one last time.

“We came later in the day. She [Trice’s grandma] decided to let’s go out to eat, and we did,” she said.

While out to eat, the tornado formed and blew through the neighborhood.

“Very thankful I, for whatever reason, something told me to visit my grandparents that day at that time because if I came right after grocery shopping, I wouldn’t have been here at 4,” Trice said.

It wasn’t until they came back from dinner that they saw the destruction.

“My grandma was in shock. My grandpa was in shock,” she said.

Trice said the silver lining has been the community. She said a lot of neighbors have stopped by, offering to help clean up or drop off food.

“It just shows you how quickly people are to help. It’s just when someone is in need. Someone is willing to help,” Trice said.

She, too, pitched in to help her grandparents salvage anything in the home.

“It’s just sad,” Trice said. “It brings up every memory you find something. It just brings up a lot of memories from our childhood, the whole family. Just finding random pictures across the street.”