Video: Four Years Later, Some Things Still ‘Missing’ in Smithville

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SMITHVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) — It’s been four years seince a massive EF-5 tornado three-quarters of a mile wide and with 205 mile per hour winds carved a swath through the small town of Smithville, wiping out much of the 160-year-old community.

Sixteen people died. Their memories live on . And within 18 months, the homes and businesses that were going to be replaced were.

But some obvious things still are missing.

When you drive highway 25 through Smithville, the smattering of new homes and churches and a high-tech school are obvious. But to anyone who visited before April 27, 2011, some other things also jump out at you…open landscapes where trees once towered, dozens of driveways and concrete pads to nowhere and only a few businesses.

Many residents moved outside the city…businesses like Mel’s and a few others were the only ones to come back. The first phases of rebuilding were difficult.

But as mayor Gregg Kennedy says, the hard part of rebuilding the city’s business community now is the most difficult and frustrating part of his job.

“We’ve got a good furniture company here in town that’s operating, they are employing people. That side is going great, but we need the retail, we need the sales tax revenue, mainly a grocery store. We’re trying, we try every day. When you invite big chains in the people come and say you don’t have the housing density. They’re only looking inside the city limits. Sure we don’t have the housing density because we were wiped out. You’re not going to see the housing density that you saw before the tornado but give us a five mile radius then the numbers will be there,” Kennedy stated.

And that’s not all.

Kennedy walks from his new city hall and hears a lawn mower in the distance. Trees once blocked such noises. The debate over landscape also has been scarred by the tornado’s memories.

“Our landmarks are gone. Our trees were our landmarks. The trees would canopy the streets, I mean 150-year-old oaks and it was just beautiful. The day of the storm changed a lot of the way we think about landscapes,” the mayor explained. “People who are building new homes don’t want a big tree next to the house or where it can even get to the house. They want it backed off and then go to a smaller ornamental type tree around the house.”

In Smithville, Steve Rogers, WCBI News.

With the help of Tupelo and some other towns, Smithville has planted some trees in its parks and in open spaces at the entrances to town.