In the days after a deadly tornado strikes, people rush to help with food, cleanup and search and rescue
January 16, 2023 at 5:50 PM EST
Tornado damage seen Saturday in Selma, Ala. (Cameron Carnes for The Washington Post) Comment on this story
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SELMA, Ala. – Javarus Smith had a tree on top of his house. His power went out and his cigarette case was destroyed in the storm that tore through the city last week, destroying houses and destroying entire blocks.
And yet he was on a street corner here serving free meals to hundreds of people in need.
“We have all this division in the world, but you go through something like this and you realize we’re in this together,” Smith, 33, said.
Selma, a city of just over 17,500 residents, was one of the hardest hit by Thursday’s storm. The extreme weather — including dozens of tornadoes, damaging winds and large hail — killed at least 10 people in Alabama and Georgia and prompted states of emergency in both places.
On Sunday, President Biden approved a major disaster declaration that freed up federal aid for recovery efforts. But the people of Selma did not wait for Washington to begin this work.
With more than a third of its residents living in poverty, “Selma is one of the poorest cities in Alabama,” said Kimberly Smitherman, 38, executive director of Foot Soldiers Park, an upcoming park and education center honoring those who participated in the civil rights movement. “We’ve already dealt with covid, which made it worse, and now we’re dealing with this.”
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But Smitherman said Selma has a tradition of coming together after tragedy, from the fight for voting rights to hurricane cleanup. When the pandemic hit, “there were people on every corner handing out food,” Smitherman said.
Now the city is following the same plan. At the corner of Philpott Avenue and Marie Foster Street on Saturday afternoon, Smith and Patrick Bonner, 32, had two huge smokers cooking chicken legs, turkey legs, hot dogs and burgers.
“Because we were in a good position to give back, we decided to set up in the neighborhood where it’s needed,” said Bonner, a billing technician for Selma Water Works.
Around Selma, residents offered to do laundry, borrow generators from those without power and reunite lost pets with their owners. Emergency personnel and civilian volunteers — such as Mark Martin, a realtor from Fairhope, Ala., and a member of the Fairhope Rotary Club — traveled from nearby towns to help.
“That’s some of our other guys out here trying to get this guy’s truck out of the driveway,” said Martin, standing outside the home of Selma resident Otto Benford Saturday morning.
Benford, 74, was alone in his living room when the tornado took the roof off his television. It had done the same to his front room, somehow saving fragile artifacts like his mother’s chandelier, a bottle of sparkling apple juice, and a framed family photo.
In less than 48 hours, Benford’s yard was filled with Martin’s team of helpers, including fellow Rotary Club member Anthony Sampson, superintendent of Dallas County Schools, and Footsteps Through Selma tour guide Terry Chestnut, who is also a nephew and son of Benford to Selma’s first black attorney, JL Chestnut Jr.
“We’ve got disasters, tornadoes, hurricanes all over the place,” Martin said, drowning out the sound of a chainsaw cutting through the branches blocking Benford’s driveway. He listed some recent examples, from Florida to Louisiana. And when a hurricane hit Martin’s own Baldwin County in 2020, “a lot of people came out there and helped us.”
On Jan. 14, reporter Natalie B. Compton traveled with Selma firefighters to check on people and their homes after severe storms. (Video: Monica Rodman/The Washington Post)
The Tuscaloosa Fire Department, which was conducting a second search of Benford’s neighborhood, was also returning service.
In 2011, there were 53 deaths in Tuscaloosa County attributed to a high-end EF-4 multi-tornado tornado — one of more than 350 tornadoes confirmed in the “Super Outbreak” that killed at least 320 people.
“Areas like this with this massive destruction really bring back some horrible, horrible memories,” said Lt. Adam Whatley. “But we’re happy to help.”
Firefighters checked each disfigured house for victims that first responders may have missed the night of the storm. They used fluorescent orange spray paint to leave Federal Emergency Management Agency “search codes” indicating who searched the house, the date of the search, the hazards found and the number of victims found inside.
“One man was found in this one, mark him one,” Whatley shouted to Sergeant Justin Whigham outside a ruined home in the shadow of corrugated metal hanging from a tree.
Fortunately, most homes in the area were zero rated. Some homeowners were at work when the storm hit, as was the case with Dallas County special education teacher Coretta Smith. After climbing over felled trees and power lines, she found her house without a roof and windows.
“Thank God we weren’t in the house when it happened,” said Smith, 53, standing in his front yard surrounded by family who came to help salvage the belongings. “If I had seen it, I probably would have had a heart attack.”
An outpouring of goodwill poured in from friends, family and classmates Smith hadn’t heard from in years. “Even people from out of town are sending donations, sending love and prayers,” she said.
A complete stranger then walked by Smith’s house and handed her a “generous amount” of money.
Tornado survivors could also go to Selma High School, where Red Cross volunteers set up a shelter with free beds, food and cell phone charging kits.
“I just hang around while people are getting medical help to see if they need emotional support,” said Selma therapist Karen Sullins, 52, at Selma High. “Most of them do.”
LaToyia McNeil Tolbert, founder of Divine for Youth, a nonprofit that helps local youth process emotions through dance and mime, addresses trauma through movement.
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After the disaster, “my heart was heavy for my city,” said Tolbert, 45. She decided to go out into the community with her children and some Divine For Youth participants to perform and hand out donations like bottled water.
These random acts of kindness were happening all over town.
One piece of evidence is the new cover photo on Selma teacher Patricia Stewart’s Facebook page.
“That’s Ranger Wright, he helped my mom yesterday,” Stewart, 67, said Friday night at the Selma High Red Cross shelter, pointing to the photo.
Stewart’s 91-year-old mother, Mary Price Smiley, tried to hide in her closet when the tornado blew off her roof. She was still standing behind a nearby door when Wright, 40, found her.
Wright, a senior Alabama State Trooper and Department of Public Safety, is a full-time instructor at the academy. He was not on official patrol when he drove his car into the disaster area to look for survivors. He convinced Smiley to leave his unstable, danger-filled house.
“You never know your angel,” Stewart said, still holding his phone showing Wright’s photo. “God sends a man who normally wouldn’t come this way—and here he is, holding Mom’s hand, walking down the street.”
Wright returned to the house the next day to see if Smiley was okay.
“I don’t think there’s one of us in this department that wouldn’t do something like that,” Wright said Saturday.
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