Families sift through destruction one week after deadly tornado

THREE FORKS, Miss. — It’s been exactly one week since a deadly tornado ripped through Mississippi and into parts of West Tennessee.

“Unless you’ve been through it, it’s hard to describe,” Benny Weatherly said.

On Wednesday, bulldozers and tractors fill his front yard. He along with his wife and several others are still cleaning up the debris left from a deadly tornado.

“I have roof damage, vinyl siding, some windows broken, a rental house that’s completely destroyed,” he said.

Weatherly said because the damge is so extensive, it’s difficult to see exactly how much has been done.

Both Weatherly and his wife are volunteer firefighters in Three Forks. He said they were trapped on their property during the Dec. 23 tornado.

“It was the loudest, most devastating noise I’ve ever heard,” he said. The couple had to be rescued by their fellow comrades from the fire department. “Watched lights and heard chainsaws coming to get us out where we were always some of the first to respond,” he said. “And we couldn’t.”

Weatherly called the experience humbling and said he’s left with “total gratitude” from the generosity of others.

Weatherly’s home sits behind the Three Forks Volunteer Fire Department.

Destroyed in the tornado, only a concrete slab of foundation is left.

Volunteers said all the station’s equipment is either damaged or destroyed. One truck is being stored at the Walnut Fire Department about five miles away.

“We don’t know how long it’ll be until they can house a truck,” Walnut Fire Chief Randle Hall said.

A fire station in Biloxi, Miss., is donating a truck to the Three Forks department, according to Hall.

Hall said his station is picking up the service calls for the Three Forks area.

The Walnut Fire Department is also acting as a donation drop-off site.

Hall said they’re accepting toiletries, bottled water, household cleaning supplies and canned foods.