MAYFIELD, Kentucky – Residents across five states are still picking up the pieces after deadly tornadoes swept through the mid-Atlantic region in December. But some residents say there has been a silver lining to the tragedy.
December 9, 2021, will never be forgotten by people who lived through what meteorologists call the most destructive December tornado on record.
For more than 200 miles, the superstorm left a mile-wide path of destruction across Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Tennessee, and Kentucky. Seventy-one tornadoes were recorded, with winds of up to 190 miles per hour. At least 90 people died and the damage could easily top $4 billion.
One of the worst twisters scored a direct hit on the little town of Mayfield in southwest Kentucky.
Mayfield’s Mayor Kathy O’Nan tells CBN News, “For one minute I thought perhaps we’ve escaped. Perhaps it’s passed over the top of us. But immediately the fire chief called and said it had hit the fire station and it was bad, bad were his words, and he couldn’t even get the bay doors open to get his emergency vehicles out.”
Mayfield Chief of Police Nathan Kent says, “Right as the storm was approaching, another family came and was beating on the door and so our highest-ranking officer got that family in and he was sucked down the hallway into our conference room but was able to recover and get into the basement as the storm came over the building.”
O’Nan remembers, “These people were barefoot, they had walked across glass, downed power lines to get to where there was a shelter. They lost everything. When the sun came up next morning, I couldn’t believe what I saw. The houses looked like they were paper, just battered paper with matchsticks strewn all around. The devastation was absolutely incomprehensible.”
Graves County, Kentucky has had a county-wide emergency response team that’s gone all over the country helping out in other disasters ever since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. But this time the disaster came to them.
And as the scale of the disaster became clear, something amazing happened.
“People began helping people they’d probably seen all their lives but not a friend to. But it didn’t matter that night,” O’Nan recalls.
Penny Wade Smith owns a small business called Smith Farm Financial Services near the heart of Mayfield. While her building was spared by the storm, her neighbors weren’t so lucky.
“A lot of people were just shell-shocked. Just kind of walking around not knowing what to do. Where do you even start when everything you see is destroyed?” she says. “The first day just felt so overwhelmed I mean how in the world can you possibly help and then the idea just came to me; well, you help the person closest to you.”
Before the storm, Penny avoided the people living in the bad neighborhood near her business.
“One of the things that the tornado did was it blew down my privacy fence. And so I took that as a sign that I needed to get out and…these were people and get to know them and help them and they were my neighbors,” she says.
Penny and her husband started collecting supplies for the neighborhood. “Canned goods, food. This is our coffee station, this is stuff we put out every day,” she says.
And God has used the crisis not only to draw the community closer together but to teach Penny a valuable lesson.
“I’ve always thought I was a compassionate and kind person, but I think this whole storm and tornado has made me realize that I probably wasn’t as kind to some people as I should have been,” she says. “I realized that God loves everybody exactly the same, and I should too.”
Operation Blessing Still Helping Tornado Victims Across the Region
Meanwhile, CBN’S Operation Blessing is still at work helping victims of the devastating tornadoes that hit several states in December.
In Russellville, Kentucky, volunteers from Operation Blessing came out in the cold and the snow to help one homeowner. They brought building supplies, sheetrock, and insulation to make repairs after the storm ripped off shingles and left holes in her roof. They also cleaned up downed limbs and other debris from the yard.
Kathy and her daughters were home in Russellville, #Kentucky, when a tornado struck the area December 10. Their was home left badly damaged and they were unable to afford repairs. Then you sent help to gut damaged walls and floors, repair their back porch and more! Thank you! pic.twitter.com/cu3RRBHgqy
— Operation Blessing (@operationbless) February 2, 2022
The town’s fire chief stopped by to see the work and thank Operation Blessing for its long-term commitment to helping her community. “For Operation Blessing to still be around this many weeks into the ballgame and wanting to help, just says a lot, it says a lot for that organization and we’re very grateful and very thankful that they’re here in our little town trying to help people who still need help,” she said.
Here’s more of what Operation Blessing has done over the past two months, and here’s how you can help:
As long-term tornado relief efforts continue in #Kentucky, Operation Blessing visited the town of Bremen on Wednesday where at least 8 of a projected 100 10×12 sheds have been given there and in Dawson Springs to help homeowners salvage their belongings. Thanks for your kindness! pic.twitter.com/DIg9B6AWop
— Operation Blessing (@operationbless) January 20, 2022
As cleanup and recovery efforts continue in #Kentucky and surrounding areas, community members devastated by the recent #tornadoes still need your help. Join Operation Blessing in bringing #hope in the midst of tragedy. Bless disaster victims https://t.co/cpA2fAQpEd pic.twitter.com/YTzKrnGbtt
— Operation Blessing (@operationbless) December 21, 2021
Thanks to the kindness of Operation Blessing partners, a load of supplies was sent to the Logan County, #Kentucky fire department with generators, heaters, extension cords, and trash bags sourced locally through The Home Depot in an effort to bless tornado victims. Thank you! pic.twitter.com/N8unfuJRbH
— Operation Blessing (@operationbless) December 23, 2021
The remainder of this article is available in its entirety at CBN
