Columbus hosts “Day of Service” to commemorate tornado anniversary

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) A year ago Sunday rocked Columbus to the core.

It was an EF 3 twister that struck the city damaging hundreds of homes February 23rd, 2019.

Recovery efforts are still underway but throughout the devastation, Columbus remained strong.

“It’s been a wonderful experience, just being able to help people and see lives be restored back better than hopefully than before the storm,” said CRLC President Nicole Clinkscales.

Coming together and rebuilding together. Over the past year, the city has been coming out of the rubble and coming back better, and stronger.

Saturday was a day of service to clean up more of what was left behind last year’s twister.

Nicole Clinkscales is the board president for the Community Recovery of Lowndes County and she says this weekend brings back a lot of raw emotions.

“Today’s our day of service. We call it a day of service, but we also wanted to commemorate the lives that were lost and those that were affected by this tornado one year ago. And it’s also a day celebration. For all the work that we’ve done as a community to recover from that storm,” said Clinkscales.

The community saw different groups, organizations, churches, and volunteers come together to lend a helping hand.

“It has been the most rewarding experience, I’ll be honest with you because when that storm hit, many of us didn’t know what to do. We just knew we wanted to be of service, and so just beginning to do that work on the ground, carried over into this organization,” said Clinkscales.

Clinkscales says she’s happy to be in the Friendly City, and over the last year the people of the community have defined what it means living in Columbus

“We just thank the community we really do. We thank the love and support that the community has shown every since February 23. And even up till now, a year later. We’re just thankful for all the work that have we’ve done as a collective body,” said Clinkscales.

Volunteers started picking up and walked along the tornadoes path.

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