Four dead, dozens injured after deadly tornado hits Wynne
Communities come together after tragedy, devastation
By DON WILBURN
donaldfwilburn@gmail.com
The community of Wynne, population 8,274, was left in tatters as a tornado – now confirmed as a category F3 – ripped through the heart of the city this Friday past leaving at least four dead and dozens injured. The Fujita Scale (F) categorizes the level of a tornado’s intensity on a scale of 1 to 6 by wind speeds and destruction caused.
The current number of casualties across the seven states affected by at least five tornados is now to be confirmed at at least 35. A young couple, now identified as Aryana Williams, 21, and her boyfriend DeeAngelo Morrow were found under ruble of what was once Williams’ mother’s home by West Memphis firefighters. At least 28 additional people were injured and transported to Cross Ridge Community Hospital. Governor Sarah Sanders confirmed at least one fatality in Little Rock.
“Here at the Capitol, I just signed an executive order declaring that a State of Emergency exists in the State of Arkansas due to today’s severe weather (see page 4),” Huckabee Sanders tweeted Friday. “We will spare no resource to assist with response and recovery efforts for Arkansans impacted.” Sanders has also spoken with President Joe Biden and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Deanne Criswell, with the president telling the governor that the federal government “stands ready to assist” and Criswell is scheduled to visit on Sunday.
The devastation to the community and surrounding areas is nearly indescribable. As of Saturday morning at least half of the residents of Cross County were without power with no prediction as to when
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Clean up had begun already at Wynne High school less than 24 hours after it was destroyed by a tornado.
Photo by Don Wilburn TOGETHER
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it would be restored. As one approaches the city from any direction begins to see a debris _eld with things that simply “shouldn’t be there” scattered among snapped and felled electrical and lamp posts. One such area between Parkin and Wynne that was hit particularly hard was Rainbow Farms. A 40-foot shipping container weighing approximately 70 thousand pounds was thrown at least 1,000ft from a nearby _eld striking the main building. The owner, Lance stated “It’s not nearly as bad here, there in Wynne it looks like a bomb went off, it looks like Ukraine”.
The carnage only gets worse as one gets closer to Wynne where the tornado ripped a visible path down the center of the city essentially dividing it in half in a visible trail of destruction commonly referred to as “The Finger of God” by storm chasers. However, the damage done to the city does not, surprisingly, reect the general attitude of the people. While those who lost their homes, businesses and loved ones are obviously in mourning the mood of the townsfolk can be summed up as “hopeful.”
Assistant Principal of Wynne High School Marc Grif_n, whose school was completely wrecked by the tornado and who was at the school surveying the damage this weekend said, “We will pick up and move on. Wynne is a strong community. Always has been. When something like this happens, we pull together as one. We depend on each other. We will be okay.”
Grif_n also said that he was con_dent that students would be back in school by next week.
“While we obviously cannot do remote classes like we did during the pandemic because of power and internet outages we will be setting up classrooms in satellite locations,” said Grif_n. “I just thank god the students weren’t here when it happened.”
Many residents shared Grif_n’s optimism as we talked to a clearly exhausted tree cutter, James Wilson, who said looking at us with bloodshot eyes, “It’s hard work, but it’s got to be done. When it’s done, we’ll be done. Until then we keep going. The town needs us.”
Other residents and volunteers arrived from all over the region to lend a helping hand and pass out donations. One volunteer firefighter from Earle said he was going to Wynne and taking a grill. Cross Bank in town was grilling hamburgers and hotdogs for the community the day after the tornado hit. They’ve served an estimated 250 burgers and 400 hotdogs in less than 24 hours.
“So now the pick up and cleaning process begins,” said Wynne resident Jamie Bailey. “It’s what we do here in Wynne. We take care of our own.”
Indeed, Bailey’s sentiment could already be seen all over town with less than 24 hours since the twister struck as debris could also already be seen accumulating in piles everywhere. Even over at Rainbow Farms, owner Lance already had his crew cleaning up as if it was just another day on the farm.
An eery reminder of how fortunate the community was that school was not in session when the twister struck.
Photo by Don Wilburn
