Couple thankful wife, 4 months pregnant, got out just before storm collapsed roof of New Port Richey home

NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. - Mena Mekhail said he could hear the storm as it passed over his workplace in New Port Richey around 2:30 Wednesday afternoon.

His wife, Mariana Bebawi, who is four months pregnant, was at their home on Villa Entrada Drive, just several blocks away.

“I noticed the weather got a little crazy, it wasn’t for too long," Mekhail remembers.

He kept working, but the next time he checked his phone, he had three missed calls. His wife was calling to say here were leaks in the ceiling.

By the time Mekhail got home, his wife was sitting outside with a neighbor. Large swaths of their roof had peeled off and part of the ceiling had caved in.

"This whole mess, this whole thing came down," Mekhail said, pointing out piles of rain-soaked insulation and drywall.

A large portion of their home and many of their cherished memories are essentially destroyed.

Bebawi is OK. She went to a relative's house to rest while Bebawi started getting quotes for repairs. He says the total could reach six figures. 

"I just have a piece of land now, and I'm building a house all over again, so it is very overwhelming,” he said.

But Bebwai said losing their home and so many belongings has left them with perspective, knowing that their family is months away from growing by one.

"[We are] lucky that we have a really nice neighbor that knocked and told her to come out and stay with her," he said. "Otherwise she would have stayed inside and she’s pregnant so that would have been disastrous. Thank God we are both safe and her and the baby are safe. That’s most important.”