Samburg, Newbern work to cleanup after storm
SAMBURG, Tenn. — Many lives were impacted after Friday’s deadly storm, and residents gathered on Monday to try to pick up some of the pieces.
One local woman says it’s amazing how a few seconds can change the lives of so many people.
“Words are just hard to describe things. You see things like this on the news, and stuff, and when you personally come in contact with it and see everything, it’s just like a bomb exploded in here and went off,” said Tina Smith, who lives in Samburg.
Smith says for most of the people here, that’s all they had.
“You know, everybody up here has lost everything,” Smith said.
However, she says this is not the end, and there are plans to rebuild.
“We still have hope. We’re planning on building back and coming back bigger and stronger than ever,” Smith said.
The Newbern gas station was totally demolished, and a power grid was hit that knocked power out for the residents.
However, many of them say they’re just happy to be alive. One person described what he heard the night of the storm.
“Sounded like a helicopter on steroids. It was just sucking and sucking. It kept just jumping. It touched, it’ll go 10 miles and hit down again. It was really weird how it stuck together for so long,” said Don Garner, a Newbern resident.
He says even though his power is still out, he’s grateful to be alive.
“It got hit a lot harder in Samburg. The stuff here that these people are taking to the trailer, that’s where this stuff is going. There’s not really a lot of damage here. That’s about the only thing we got, right there,” Garner said.
To find out more information on how you can get involved, contact your local Red Cross.
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