If you look in the dictionary under "Small Town America" a photo of downtown Mayfield, Ky., from a few weeks ago would be likely there. Or Dawson Springs, Ky., or even Samburg, Tenn. They are among dozens of small towns hit by a catastrophic tornado on the evening of Friday, Dec. 10, 2021.
To say that lives were changed is an understatement.
At her job in a candle factory in Mayfield, Rebecca Marsalla found herself rolled up in a stack of her co-workers when the tornado picked up the building and dropped it back down on top of them. Suddenly, debris from the building where they had been working was crushing the life out of them. Some didn't make it. She did.
She recalls how people walking on top of the building looking for ways get them out were causing the
debris to press down on them, making it hard to breathe. It would be an hour before firefighters could get through debris-covered roads to aid the volunteer rescue effort. Early-on, some thought the death toll could be 40. Of the 110 workers in the building, eight died.
The volunteer citizens who tried to help Marsalla were among the first of many heroes who stepped up in the early hours after the tornado. Since then, the list of heroes has swelled to thousands.
Yes, the government is sending help through FEMA, but it is dwarfed by the incredible generosity of the American people.
A guy in Texas saw the need and put together two SEMI loads of food to send. A small church bought a box of $100 gift cards and walked up and down tornado-ravaged streets to hand them out. A chiropractor put together trailer after trailer of food and water. A sheriff's association took four new police cars for an agency that lost cruisers to the tornado. The cars were also stuffed with supplies. A retired doctor stood in the middle an intersection for hours directing traffic to speed relief efforts.
Help for the disaster zone has come from all parts of the nation. So much so, that it has overwhelmed the donation reception centers and, perhaps more importantly, the hearts of people who have had their lives and hometowns turned upside down in an instant. Some families arrived at shelters with no more than a shoe box of belongings. The mass of life-sustaining supplies heading toward Mayfield and other devastated towns is a thing to behold.
Since the tornado that caused so much damage rolled through, I have had the honor of assisting with communications at in the Mayfield-Graves County Regional Emergency Operations Center. I work among people who have come from all over the nation to help get food for people who need food, water for people who need water, clothing for people who need clothing and shelter for people who need shelter. There is nothing more profound.
Hearing about the needs in the tornado corridor, people began scraping up their spare cash, organizing food drives, gathering donations of water and doing their part to help. In a lot of countries, the people depend on the government to help. In America, we are about helping each other. It's what we do.
The devastation is such that it will take years to fully recover. People in the tornado corridor are in this for the long-haul. Based on what I've seen, so are the people sending them help.
A FEMA disaster strike team from the New York Emergency Management Agency, which has traveled to disasters across the country – including 911 and Hurricane Katrina – say the Kentucky damage is the most devastating they have seen since 911.
Somewhere out there is a small company making hero capes. They are about to get a very big order.
Donations to the Mayfield-Graves County Tornado Relief Fund may be sent in care of Independence Bank, P.O. Box 9, Fancy Farm, Kentucky 42034 or online at https://gofund.me/3dabe793. This account will be used to assist individuals in the tornado corridor.
KEITH TODD OF MARION IS PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER, KENTUCKY TRANSPORTATION CABINET DISTRICT 1 AND ACTING PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER, MAYFIELD/GRAVES COUNTY EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTER
