2006 Tornado Memorial

DYER Tenn. — It’s been 20 years since a severe weather outbreak devastated parts of West Tennessee. We all know when bad weather strikes communities come together, and Thursday many remember the tragedy after the storm. In 2006 the National Weather Service reported an EF-3, and EF-1 tornado in Gibson and Rutherford counties that took the lives of 24 people.

Widespread tornadoes hit in several areas and the line of storms destroyed several homes, buildings, and entire neighborhoods.

“There were four tornadoes coming. Two coming from both directions that were combined together and there were two EF-3 tornadoes that came all the way through Gibson County,” Rickey Graves, Former EMA Director for Gibson County.

Since that devastating day, communities have made efforts to come together to rebuild, remember, and restore families impacted across the the region.

“We are doing a living memorial with a tree being planted. We are going to have a rock put out here. Unfortunately, it didn’t get done in time but they are working really hard to get that done at Greenfield monument works, and it will have all of their names listed on it. The tree is hopefully going to last for a long time to come and memory of families,” said Tiffany Needham, Operation Officer at Gibson County EMA.

In spite of the tragedy, the community has never been more united.

“It really changed the community. We’re glad to have this and have a time of remembrance for everyone that we lost that day and we’re glad that everybody came out,” said Justin Little, EMA Director for Gibson County.

A county-wide effort morphed into a more sufficient communications system that has instant command provision with the help of grant funding.

“Just be safe. We had no warning back then, but today there’s access to all kinds of warnings systems and it’s at a very little cost,” said Graves.

After the ceremony, residents had the chance to share the shovel to help spread soil around the memorial tree.