Five Years Ago

MASONIC LODGE AFTER THE APRIL 9, 2009 TORNADO

Five years 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.

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.

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 hit, 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 Rich Mountain Community College, and at Wal-Mart. There is extensive damage at U.S. Motors where Gina operates the Credit Union.

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

Here are photos that I was able to take two days after the tornado. Pictures can't really give you the feel of the actual scene.





















I want to dedicate this post to the memory of those who died in the tornado; Anna Cress, Judy Lobner, and Albert Shaw.