Twelve years later: Louisville city leaders reflect on deadly tornado
LOUISVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – Twelve years ago this week, a tornado struck Winston County.
The storm left behind a trail of destruction and painful memories.
“Absolute devastation,” said Louisville Fire Chief Robert Hutto.
On April 28, 2014, an EF-4 tornado ripped through Louisville.
“It was horrific … took hundreds of homes, it took memories, jobs, a million of square feet of industrial space,” said Louisville Mayor Will Hill.
And it took ten lives.
Twelve years later, the entire Winston County community still feels the impact of that tornado, and many remember it like it was yesterday.
“It just made a jagged cut right through the city from the south all the way up to the eastern side of the city …ultimately hitting our hospital,” said Hutto.
Louisville Fire Chief Robert Hutto said responders were first called to the southside of the city near Eiland Avenue.
“I remember getting out of the truck and looking south towards where the devastation was…. and seeing the people walking out of the debris and just the blank looks. The terrified looks on everyone’s faces was something you’d never forget,” said Hutto.
Over the years, some things have been physically rebuilt, but the emotional damage lingers.
“Recovery is a process. It took many years, and in some ways, we still are, because there are scars. There are emotions. There are the ideas and thoughts of what did take place,” said Hill.
To help with the healing, the city dedicated a memorial to the ten victims of the storm a year after the tornado hit.
Their names are engraved on a monument near the entrance of the cemetery that was rebuilt.
Dozens of organizations, some local and some from out-of- state helped with the city’s recovery.
But even a year later, in 2015, the city still had hope.
“You can’t undo what was done, so we have to seize the moment, seize the opportunity,” said Mayor Hill in 2015.
“At that time, we were so consumed with doubt, fear, and worry. We thought it was never going to be okay again, but it is and it has been,” said Hill on the twelfth anniversary of the tornado.
The Winston County Medical Center was rebuilt in 2017.
Since the tornado, Mayor Hill has spoken to other communities about what his city learned from the disaster.
