Friday, April 9, 2010

Tornado One Year Ago

Mena Tornado 2009 23
MASONIC LODGE AFTER THE APRIL 9, 2009 TORNADO

One year ago today the face of Mena changed drastically. An F3 tornado damaged a large section of town. 100 houses were destroyed and 600 damaged. Over 10,000 trees were destroyed. Although the community has done an awesome job of rebuilding, it will never look the same.

I wrote the following paragraphs a few hours after the tornado hit.

Tonight at around 7:30 the tornado sirens sounded here in Mena. Gina and I went to the safe place in our house, the downstairs hallway. About that time our electricity went out. The storm passed without damage here at the house. We were thankful that we were spared.

After the storm passed and the stars came out, I decided to drive into town to see if anyone had electricity. When I got to downtown, I started to see storm damage and saw that the authorities were not letting people proceed to the north side of Mena.

I drove to my parents house to see if they were OK, and they were fine with no damage to their house or property. I drove on to the church but saw no damage there. I thought that the storm may not have been to bad, but by the time I returned home, the phone was ringing off the hook with reports of severe damage.

The first news reports stated that the Polk County Sheriff's Department reports one person was killed after a tornado swept through the town Thursday night.

Severe storms moving through the area shortly after eight o'clock tonight spawned the twister.

As damage assessment began, KARK was told a 25 block area that included the Polk County Courthouse and Mena City Hall took a direct hit from the tornado. There are 12 minor injuries in the city.

Governor Beebe has sent 30 National Guard members to the city for help.

The Arkansas State Police tells KARK 4 there is extensive damage to homes and businesses throughout the city of Mena.

We received a call from a friend telling us that our good friend Deanna had a lot of damage to her house, and her car was totaled. Just before the storm him, Deanna was on the phone with Gina telling her that she was in the closet and she was scared. We have not been able to talk to her since. We don't know what we will find when we are able to get into the the area. Just a couple of blocks from her house, there were 20 or more people in the Masonic Lodge when it collapsed. There is one known fatality on the street where Deanna lives.

We have had friends staying with us this evening, because they were not able to get home. The National Guard is in town and not letting anyone into the severely damaged area. There was damage at RMCC, the community college, and at Wal-Mart. There is damage at U.S. Motors where Gina operates the Credit Union. We have not been able to find out the extent of the damage.

I need to go to sleep, but probably sleep won't come. I don't know what tomorrow will bring.

6 comments:

  1. I'm glad you and your family were spared. Those tornados and hurricanes that you have in your neck of the woods are a scary threat to people. We have nothing like that here in Finland.

    Take care. - Rita -

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  2. Seeing the damage tornadoes do always reminds me that Jesus called Satan "the prince of the power of the air"...

    My son-in-law worked as a policeman and an EMT in Piedmont, Alabama, when the Palm Sunday tornado of 1994 destroyed the Goshen United Methodist Church and killed 20 people inside.

    He had to decide, literally, who among the injured would live and who would not because of the very limited amount of emergency medical equipment available in that small town. The mayor also appointed him to be his official spokesperson to the media at the Anniston Armory, where many of the dead were taken. Although my son-in-law had quite a time dealing with all of this responsibility mentally and emotionally afterward, he is a solid Christian, and the Lord has helped him get through it.

    I'm so glad you have returned to blogging.

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  3. Wow, those tornadoes are really a problem in your part of the world. So glad you are OK.

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  4. A sad memory. It looks like war hit your town. Nature is a powerful antagonist. I hope all is well now.

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  5. This is so sad that so many had to suffer from this. But i am so glad you and yr family are ok. God bless you and yr family.

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  6. Oh what lovely spring flowers.

    Nisha
    http://www.lemonicks.com/Travel

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