Dresden residents clean up community after EF-3 tornado strikes
DRESDEN, Tenn. — Community members are coming together to clean up their city after a tornado tore through the area on Friday.
Shortly after 11 p.m., an EF-3 tornado struck parts of Weakley County, wreaking havoc across the downtown area.
“Luckily our home was spared, but there’s a ton of damage in our neighborhood. Particularly the street over was just annihilated,” said Heather Nelson, who lives in Dresden.
However, it didn’t take long for volunteers to arrive to help pick up the pieces of their community.
“We got out here early Saturday morning. As soon as it became daylight we began working,” said Phil Mitchell, Director of Missions for the Weakley County Baptist Association.
The Weakley County Baptist Association Disaster Relief has been helping the members of Dresden for the past two days now, and they have no plans of stopping anytime soon.
“We’ll be in it for the long haul because this is where we live. We’ll be here until we get it all cleaned up,” Mitchell said.
And the numbers of volunteers across the community is continuing to grow.
“Today, when we got here at 8:00 there were probably at least 75 people. Some of these people are from here in Weakley County, but some are from other parts of West Tennessee,” Mitchell said.
And other community members are taking the first step to help their neighbors in every way possible.
“I kind of hit the pavement as soon as things started popping off, and all of my neighbors starting coming out and getting their hands dirty. I wanted to be a part of that. Right now, I’m here at First Baptist Church picking up some disaster relief forms to pass out to my neighbors,” Nelson said.
If you’re looking to help out, Weakley County Baptist Association Disaster Relief says they can use all the help they can get. But they ask you to call before showing up.
“There are some needs right here at the church you can help with too. Some ladies are preparing meals and helping with others things. So if you want to come, we would appreciate you coming,” Mitchell said.
The tornado left many without homes and without hope, but community members are urging others to stay hopeful.
“I’m just so so thankful that as far as I know, there have been no casualties. Just hold your loved ones tight, be grateful for another day, and get out and help your town,” Nelson said.
If you would like to volunteer to help out in Dresden, contact them on Facebook.
The tornado the struck Dresden was first spotted in Newbern and went on to travel all the way into Middle Tennessee.
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