Local remembers tornado one month following the destruction
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Tuesday marked one month since the tornadoes stuck south central Kentucky, taking lives and destroying hundreds of homes.
Jordan Smith lived off Hillridge Court, one street that was hit hard by the tornado.
Tuesday, Smith went to visit his old home and discovered the building had been completely torn down.
Smith was on the second floor of his home asleep when the alarms went off on December 11.
He said he heard the wind getting bad and saw a garbage can flying down the road and decided to take cover.
“I took the dog and the cat downstairs just to be safe and literally by the time I hit the bottom step, the back door just flew open, the window broke, and I’m seeing kitchen appliances flying at me. I take the dog out and jump out of the way and just sit there for a few seconds. That’s all it really was was a few seconds. And then I hear a little bit of calm and peace and that’s when I knew something pretty big happened,” said Smith.
Smith says the upstairs roof had collapsed right where he had been sleeping just minutes before.
Smith says he knew the building would likely need to be demolished but seeing it in person was unnerving.
“Just looking out here it’s an empty parking lot and a hole where your home is supposed to be. It’s kind of hard to grasp, which, a whole lot has been hard to grasp in the last month or so,” said Smith.
He says time has flown by since it all happened, and the wound was still fresh in his mind.
“You think when something like that happens time kind of stands still, but unfortunately time keeps moving, things keep moving. This day came really quick. I didn’t realize it had already been a month because I feel like I’ve had to do so much talking to insurance and FEMA and all the other people,” said Smith.
He says the tornado that hit on New Years Day was really tough for him as he struggled with PTSD from the December 11th tornado.
Cleanup efforts have only just begun in the area where Smith used to live with piles and piles of rubble along the streets and roofs still being patched.
