Picking up the pieces after the tornado

Pradyot Sharma The tornado that touched down in Troy Sunday left several structural damages, including three overturned mobile homes, according to Herbert Reeves, the interim director for the Pike County Emergency Management Agency and dean of student services at Troy. According to Reeves, the structural damage spans areas including Hunters Mountain where mobile homes and some outbuildings are damaged, Murphree and College streets where trees have fallen over houses, and U.S. Highway 231 where electric poles were damaged. Reeves said they are still in the process of assessing where to go from here. “There are plenty of needs,” Reeves said. “We have people that have been rooted from their homes and having to relocate, debris that needs to be cleaned up and infrastructure in some areas that needs to be repaired or replaced.” According to Eddie Henderson, the government liaison for the Red Cross, residents are still discovering damage from the tornado since many of them weren’t home when it hit. According to Henderson, the Red Cross has dispatched damage assessment teams for trailers and other areas of town. “We were able to respond quickly,” Henderson said. “It was still raining when we got there.” The Red Cross is trying to ensure people have a place to stay and finances to buy emergency items. Bryce Cheatham, a sophomore global business major from Bay Minette, and Nick Wozniak, a sophomore nursing major from Birmingham, had their home flip over onto another home during the tornado, but they have been receiving help from the Red Cross and the university since the tornado. Wozniak and Cheatham were put up in a hotel by the Red Cross for a few days, after which the university then offered them space in a dorm until they are able to find a place to stay. One of their professors even got a group of students together to act as a support group. “We’re just trying to keep calm, keep going and not worry too much,” Wozniak said. “It’s already over, so at least we were OK.” “That was such a relief,” Cheatham said. “Now we get to worry about finals, now we get to worry about finding out where to do homework.” According to Reeves, the other areas affected were Goshen (awning, barn and pole barn), Three Notch Street, Dr. L.C. McMillan Drive, Johnnie Mae Warren Drive and Knox Street.