F3 Tornado hit our city

ABOUT ME
Good day all, I’m Liz, a newbie here, but I’m an active noise.cash user, through that social media, I read so much about readcash, from other users here promoting their article to noisecash. That made me think, about joining. To be honest at first I didn’t have the audacity to join here, it’s seems writing an article is not my thing,  although I have so many thoughts that I would love to share, nothing really especial, just my everyday life as a full time mom of three big kids and a housewife, who migrated here in the USA 10 years ago, after living in Japan for almost 12 years. It’s really a long story to tell, being originally born from the Philippines, finished my 6 years college in Doctor of Dental Medicine , and a board passer, but ended up being married  to a US citizen. Someday I’ll pen down how I met my

THE CITY I LIVE IN
Let me continue a little more about myself, I and my family is presently living in Springdale Arkansas, we’re blessed with a beautiful 4 bedroom house on a 1.2 acre lot, not really big, this is not to boast about it, but to thank God for all His blessings, bear with me I’m just trying to shift my gear here 😉. The city I live in is not a metropolis but the fourth-largest city in the state of Arkansas, Springdale has almost 80,000 residents, it has diverse population but friendly community and growing economy that attracts many Americans to move and settle here.

F3 TORNADO HIT OUR CITY
No matter how beautiful, peaceful , and growing the place you live in, nature has its own way to say hello, it’s unpredictable, it could be devastating, just like what happened last March 30, our city was hit by an F3 tornado, 1983 was the last record of tornado here in  Springdale, it was at level F3, 0 death and 0 injuries but last week’s tornado was at first labeled as  F2 then  upgraded to Level F3  the following day by The National Weather Service, meaning that it had winds from 136 to 165 mph. As we got the emergency alert that early  Wednesday morning  from our phones, the tornado touched down at 4:04 am for  5.2 miles with, Its maximum width of 350 yards. The news said that the tornado developed south of Joyce Boulevard and east of Steele Boulevard, which is southwest of the Northwest Arkansas Mall in Fayetteville, It hit and damage the movie theater, other  businesses, then moved down to Springdale. Buildings were crushed down. The Nilfisk warehouse at 979 E. Robinson Ave. that manufactures cleaning equipment. About three-quarters of the plant and warehouse metal building was destroyed as the tornado ragingly passed by that path.

This tornado destroyed dozens of homes about 60 homes  were estimated to be severely damage and hundreds families were affected, house roofs were blown away, big trees were uprooted and fell down on some houses.This photo below was at Woodridge Estates Mobile Home Park just one block away from the George elementary, I passed by there the following day of the tornado and took these photos, you can see how it blew down trees, and damaged numerous homes.

 It’s just a shocking disaster that shook our community. As I saw this woman picking up some of the debris at her place and just staring at the ruins and rubble left by the tornado. That day so many people lost their houses, no decent place to stay, no water and electricity, their dreams  were taken away in seconds, how did they feel when they heard the rushing sounds like a freight train over their head,  insanely loud, hitting their  houses blown their roof,trees falling down, that was really a scary experienced!

But God is still good and faithful, no deaths was reported 7 people were injured, two men were hospitalized when those big trees fell down on their house. I just read the news that they now recovered from injuries.

Many had volunteered to clear and clean up the debris, cutting the trees and hauling them, the Salvation Army feeding center opened up and they served foods, the Compassion center and other organizations took relief goods for the affected families, the Jones center opened up for people to stay, this is what we need in times of disaster to hold each other up. That day I  texted my friend who lives close to the path of tornado thank God! their house is ok just no water and electricity. I told her if she needs a place to stay they can come to our place.

Last Friday after picking up my daughter from school we passed by the affected areas of the tornado, the trace of the storm is still there clean-up still continues, although most of the debris were already picked in most areas, but the crushed and ruined building still left untouched. that business had lost a lot of money,  but for sure the insurance will cover most of the damage. Our governor said  they’re helping although it's not going to be enough to cover all the losses, but it is enough to help.

 

While our city mayor Doug Sprouse, said it is very likely the city itself and public infrastructure will not qualify for financial assistance, but individual residents who are uninsured or underinsured could qualify for help. That’s a good news! but still we won’t know until damage assessments are all done.

May God bless the families who were affected by this disaster and help them get back on their feet again! I pray that they’ll find the hope and felt the love of God through other people, during this hard times.

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