Mayfield survivors recount close calls with 'quad-state' tornado
After a powerful tornado devastated Mayfield, residents of the small town are picking up the pieces and asking the question: "If you lose everything, where do you start?"
By
Adriana Navarro, AccuWeather staff writer
Published Dec 15, 2021 3:42 PM EDT
|
Updated Dec 16, 2021 10:33 AM EDT
The long cleanup process is just beginning for many people across the Midwest and Southeast, as AccuWeather's Kim Leoffler showed in a live report on Dec. 13.
Huddled in his basement with his best friend and his mother, Mayfield resident Terry Richards didn't hear a train as the tornado passed overhead, as many other tornado survivors have previously described the sound.
"I know some people hear a train, but it was just like bam -- bam -- bam -- bam," Richards told AccuWeather National Reporter Bill Wadell.
Earlier, he and his friend Steve had been watching TV in his home as his mother cooked next door before the sirens and alerts had interrupted.
They took shelter when the warnings grew serious, the tornado-warned storm 10 minutes away from them. The power went out first. The WiFi followed. And the winds roared.
"All of a sudden the basement door -- pow -- blew open and wind came rushing in and blowing stuff everywhere," Richards said. "But then it was gone."
Mayfield is a small town of about 10,000 tucked away in the western part of the state, and about an hour’s drive to the northeast in Dawson Springs, Kentucky, residents shared similarly harrowing stories of survival. Dawson Springs resident Phillip Sullivan had rushed his daughter under a flight of stairs minutes before the tornado struck their home.
"It was just like seconds, and then it was over," Sullivan told AccuWeather National Reporter Kim Leoffler. "And we made it. I mean, it's amazing, really."
The tornado left few homes and businesses standing in its wake, contributing to what could be the costliest tornado outbreak in United States history. Overall, the outbreak is estimated to have amounted to $18 billion in damage and economic losses, according to AccuWeather Founder and CEO Dr. Joel N. Myers. The National Weather Service would later give the tornado a preliminary rating of EF4 on Wednesday after surveying the damage. But in the dark, the quick flashes of lightning offered only glimpses of the destruction left in the tornado's wake.
Richards and everyone who had taken shelter with him faced a similar reality, though, with the added threat of a gas leak.
"We had to fight our way out the back door and get two to three streets over to the fire department," Richards said. From there, they took a bus to Mayfield High School, where they stayed for the night.
Captain Steven Allen estimated the Mayfield-Graves County Fire Department and Rescue Squad Station's crew had left the station about seven minutes before the tornado demolished the building.
It might not even have been that long, he added, remarking that hours seemed like days and minutes seemed like hours.
The fire station in Mayfield, the central hub of the multiple stations that cover the county, had been on standby throughout the day for the possibility of severe weather. Around 3 p.m. on Dec. 10, preparations began. When reports warning of the severity of the storm started to flood in, the writing on the wall slowly came into focus.
"They were tracking it coming toward Mayfield, and they were saying 'catastrophic,' 'life-threatening.' So we knew it was going to be bad," David Warner, chief of the Mayfield-Graves County Fire Department and Rescue Squad Station, told Wadell.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP
They called in more volunteer firefighters and were actively tracking the storm that would become known as the quad-state tornado, which carved at least a 128-mile continuous path of destruction through parts of four states. Ongoing surveys are working to confirm the rest of the 227-mile path across Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee and Kentucky. As conditions deteriorated, the firefighters took their cue to set out.
"They were telling everybody to take cover now, get out now," Warner said. "The weather service was actually contacting us and our EM Director, saying we're worried about y'all's county. We got in our trucks, loaded up and headed out of the station."
With a job to accomplish and people to help, the crew set out from the station, only to return later and find it reduced to rubble.
A pair of firefighter boots sit on the ground amid rubble in Mayfield, Kentucky, three days after a historic December 2021 tornado outbreak. (AccuWeather / Bill Wadell)
(AccuWeather / Bill Wadell)
Jason Buckman, a captain for the Mayfield-Graves County Fire and Rescue, was among those making a beeline for Mayfield in the wake of the tornado. He was tasked with escorting ambulances to the Heritage Manor, a nursing home on the northern side of town. However, the tangled trees and debris that cluttered the roadways made the task easier said than done.
"It's an absolute game of opening the roads, and Heritage Manor was the team I was working on," Buckman told Wadell of his first assignment that night. "And it was our total goal to get there." Work was tedious, driving a few feet, cutting the tree debris away, driving a few more feet and cutting again. "We did that for blocks basically from Broadway all the way over to Heritage Manor."
Throughout the recovery process, Kentuckians time and time again have recounted how others had lent a helping hand, and the case was no different when emergency personnel arrived on the scene.
"As we were cutting, we had more people coming up, wanting to help but not knowing what to do," Buckman said. "We took care of all the major cutting, and we didn't have to pull anything off the road. They were grabbing what we cut up, putting it to the side and getting the road clear."
The firefighters only had chainsaws to help them carve through the debris as the excavators and skid steers were still on their way. But with the help from others in the area, it took only about an hour to clear the road to the nursing home.
"It felt like a very long hour, don't get me wrong," Buckman said, but the outpouring of support "was surreal at the time."
When dawn arrived and shed light on the scope of destruction, it became clear that rebuilding would take more than just weeks or months.
Two weeks before Christmas and on the doorstep of winter, many families found their homes destroyed. The main hub of the Mayfield-Graves County Fire Department and Rescue Squad Station had been destroyed, along with all the equipment that was stored there. Only four vehicles from the station had been saved -- the main Number 1 engine, two squad rescue trucks and a pickup truck that's used to move equipment. But the outpouring of community members lending a hand didn't end at daybreak.
When Ricky Murphy, a musician who also goes by the moniker DJ Slikk, returned to his hometown of Mayfield, he didn't hesitate to jump through the window of his old church to salvage the old pictures of the building and its members that had been scattered by the tornado. They held a piece of the church's history, capturing snapshots of people who had passed, deacons and even of the church itself.
Like the rest of the town after the powerful tornado that struck four states, Fairview Baptist Church will need to rebuild. In a town where people now find themselves in need of everything from shelter from the cold to transportation to food and water, Murphy asked the question that many have on their mind: "If you lose everything, where do you start?"
"Two weeks before Christmas, it's kind of crazy because you're talking to kids in a normal conversation, like, 'What did you ask for?' or 'What are you expecting?' And now it's kind of like, 'I just want water,' or 'I just need some power,' Murphy said. "There's a lot of people that are scared."
Crystal Fox, a member of the Fairview Baptist Church, helped to set up a community center for people to come and collect supplies that they might need, such as food and water. Electricity was also still an issue for many in the county as well as access to transportation and shelter.
She stressed that even when the media's focus leaves Mayfield, there are still going to be people without homes and children needing immediate shelter and resources. Even with the community stepping up and waiting on FEMA to arrive, "there's no rebuilding this for a long time," she said, urging for help to meet people where they are.
People hoping to donate to the Mayfield-Graves County Fire Department and Rescue Squad can donate here at the department's GoFundMe page. United Way, Inc. has also set up a GoFundMe page for Mayfield, which can be found here. Click here to learn about more ways to help.
Correction: AccuWeather National Reporter Kim Leoffler reported from Dawson Springs, Kentucky. This article previously reported that her coverage was from Mayfield, Kentucky.
More on the historic tornado outbreak:
For the latest weather news check back on AccuWeather.com. Watch the AccuWeather Network on DIRECTV, Frontier, Spectrum, fuboTV, Philo, and Verizon Fios. AccuWeather Now is now available on your preferred streaming platform.
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News / Severe Weather
Mayfield survivors recount close calls with 'quad-state' tornado
After a powerful tornado devastated Mayfield, residents of the small town are picking up the pieces and asking the question: "If you lose everything, where do you start?"
By Adriana Navarro, AccuWeather staff writer
Published Dec 15, 2021 3:42 PM EDT | Updated Dec 16, 2021 10:33 AM EDT
The long cleanup process is just beginning for many people across the Midwest and Southeast, as AccuWeather's Kim Leoffler showed in a live report on Dec. 13.
Huddled in his basement with his best friend and his mother, Mayfield resident Terry Richards didn't hear a train as the tornado passed overhead, as many other tornado survivors have previously described the sound.
"I know some people hear a train, but it was just like bam -- bam -- bam -- bam," Richards told AccuWeather National Reporter Bill Wadell.
Earlier, he and his friend Steve had been watching TV in his home as his mother cooked next door before the sirens and alerts had interrupted.
They took shelter when the warnings grew serious, the tornado-warned storm 10 minutes away from them. The power went out first. The WiFi followed. And the winds roared.
"All of a sudden the basement door -- pow -- blew open and wind came rushing in and blowing stuff everywhere," Richards said. "But then it was gone."
Mayfield is a small town of about 10,000 tucked away in the western part of the state, and about an hour’s drive to the northeast in Dawson Springs, Kentucky, residents shared similarly harrowing stories of survival. Dawson Springs resident Phillip Sullivan had rushed his daughter under a flight of stairs minutes before the tornado struck their home.
"It was just like seconds, and then it was over," Sullivan told AccuWeather National Reporter Kim Leoffler. "And we made it. I mean, it's amazing, really."
The tornado left few homes and businesses standing in its wake, contributing to what could be the costliest tornado outbreak in United States history. Overall, the outbreak is estimated to have amounted to $18 billion in damage and economic losses, according to AccuWeather Founder and CEO Dr. Joel N. Myers. The National Weather Service would later give the tornado a preliminary rating of EF4 on Wednesday after surveying the damage. But in the dark, the quick flashes of lightning offered only glimpses of the destruction left in the tornado's wake.
Richards and everyone who had taken shelter with him faced a similar reality, though, with the added threat of a gas leak.
"We had to fight our way out the back door and get two to three streets over to the fire department," Richards said. From there, they took a bus to Mayfield High School, where they stayed for the night.
Captain Steven Allen estimated the Mayfield-Graves County Fire Department and Rescue Squad Station's crew had left the station about seven minutes before the tornado demolished the building.
It might not even have been that long, he added, remarking that hours seemed like days and minutes seemed like hours.
The fire station in Mayfield, the central hub of the multiple stations that cover the county, had been on standby throughout the day for the possibility of severe weather. Around 3 p.m. on Dec. 10, preparations began. When reports warning of the severity of the storm started to flood in, the writing on the wall slowly came into focus.
"They were tracking it coming toward Mayfield, and they were saying 'catastrophic,' 'life-threatening.' So we knew it was going to be bad," David Warner, chief of the Mayfield-Graves County Fire Department and Rescue Squad Station, told Wadell.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP
They called in more volunteer firefighters and were actively tracking the storm that would become known as the quad-state tornado, which carved at least a 128-mile continuous path of destruction through parts of four states. Ongoing surveys are working to confirm the rest of the 227-mile path across Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee and Kentucky. As conditions deteriorated, the firefighters took their cue to set out.
"They were telling everybody to take cover now, get out now," Warner said. "The weather service was actually contacting us and our EM Director, saying we're worried about y'all's county. We got in our trucks, loaded up and headed out of the station."
With a job to accomplish and people to help, the crew set out from the station, only to return later and find it reduced to rubble.
A pair of firefighter boots sit on the ground amid rubble in Mayfield, Kentucky, three days after a historic December 2021 tornado outbreak. (AccuWeather / Bill Wadell)
Jason Buckman, a captain for the Mayfield-Graves County Fire and Rescue, was among those making a beeline for Mayfield in the wake of the tornado. He was tasked with escorting ambulances to the Heritage Manor, a nursing home on the northern side of town. However, the tangled trees and debris that cluttered the roadways made the task easier said than done.
"It's an absolute game of opening the roads, and Heritage Manor was the team I was working on," Buckman told Wadell of his first assignment that night. "And it was our total goal to get there." Work was tedious, driving a few feet, cutting the tree debris away, driving a few more feet and cutting again. "We did that for blocks basically from Broadway all the way over to Heritage Manor."
Throughout the recovery process, Kentuckians time and time again have recounted how others had lent a helping hand, and the case was no different when emergency personnel arrived on the scene.
"As we were cutting, we had more people coming up, wanting to help but not knowing what to do," Buckman said. "We took care of all the major cutting, and we didn't have to pull anything off the road. They were grabbing what we cut up, putting it to the side and getting the road clear."
The firefighters only had chainsaws to help them carve through the debris as the excavators and skid steers were still on their way. But with the help from others in the area, it took only about an hour to clear the road to the nursing home.
"It felt like a very long hour, don't get me wrong," Buckman said, but the outpouring of support "was surreal at the time."
When dawn arrived and shed light on the scope of destruction, it became clear that rebuilding would take more than just weeks or months.
Two weeks before Christmas and on the doorstep of winter, many families found their homes destroyed. The main hub of the Mayfield-Graves County Fire Department and Rescue Squad Station had been destroyed, along with all the equipment that was stored there. Only four vehicles from the station had been saved -- the main Number 1 engine, two squad rescue trucks and a pickup truck that's used to move equipment. But the outpouring of community members lending a hand didn't end at daybreak.
When Ricky Murphy, a musician who also goes by the moniker DJ Slikk, returned to his hometown of Mayfield, he didn't hesitate to jump through the window of his old church to salvage the old pictures of the building and its members that had been scattered by the tornado. They held a piece of the church's history, capturing snapshots of people who had passed, deacons and even of the church itself.
Like the rest of the town after the powerful tornado that struck four states, Fairview Baptist Church will need to rebuild. In a town where people now find themselves in need of everything from shelter from the cold to transportation to food and water, Murphy asked the question that many have on their mind: "If you lose everything, where do you start?"
"Two weeks before Christmas, it's kind of crazy because you're talking to kids in a normal conversation, like, 'What did you ask for?' or 'What are you expecting?' And now it's kind of like, 'I just want water,' or 'I just need some power,' Murphy said. "There's a lot of people that are scared."
Crystal Fox, a member of the Fairview Baptist Church, helped to set up a community center for people to come and collect supplies that they might need, such as food and water. Electricity was also still an issue for many in the county as well as access to transportation and shelter.
She stressed that even when the media's focus leaves Mayfield, there are still going to be people without homes and children needing immediate shelter and resources. Even with the community stepping up and waiting on FEMA to arrive, "there's no rebuilding this for a long time," she said, urging for help to meet people where they are.
People hoping to donate to the Mayfield-Graves County Fire Department and Rescue Squad can donate here at the department's GoFundMe page. United Way, Inc. has also set up a GoFundMe page for Mayfield, which can be found here. Click here to learn about more ways to help.
Correction: AccuWeather National Reporter Kim Leoffler reported from Dawson Springs, Kentucky. This article previously reported that her coverage was from Mayfield, Kentucky.
More on the historic tornado outbreak:
For the latest weather news check back on AccuWeather.com. Watch the AccuWeather Network on DIRECTV, Frontier, Spectrum, fuboTV, Philo, and Verizon Fios. AccuWeather Now is now available on your preferred streaming platform.
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