After the tornadoes | In the ruins of Dawson Springs, despair and resilience

(Dawson Springs) They’re stunned, sometimes desperate. Yet they show great strength of character: the residents of Dawson Springs, in the US state of Kentucky, have seen their pretty town brutally transformed into a field of ruins.

A neighborhood of this picturesque town was even virtually completely wiped out by one of the tornadoes that killed dozens of people on Friday night in the central and southern United States.

“I am like anesthetized, quite simply lost. I can’t find the words, ”says Susan Orten, a 61-year-old woman who has lost her life partner for 25 years.

His name was Ernie Aiken and he was a local figure in Dawson Springs. Susan was not with him at the fateful moment: the 86-year-old was propped up in his recliner, in front of his television, in his mobile home.

“Last words”

Concerned about the expected arrival of the storm, Susan called Ernie by phone. “If I’m still here, I’ll call you tomorrow,” the octogenarian said to his friend. “But these were his last words,” laments the woman who cannot hold back her tears.

Faced with the fury of the tornado, Ernie Aiken’s frail prefabricated house did not weigh heavily, being literally torn apart.

The other surrounding homes suffered the same fate, as if this Kentucky town had been almost wiped off the map. According to the mayor, 75% of the city is destroyed.

All along Pine Street, the vision is doomsday. Each house is nothing more than a heap of rubble, where the survivors have, as if in defiance, planted an American flag.

At least 13 people have been killed and more than 100 remain missing.

Under the table

Jackie Gordon, 55, was saved by hiding under a heavy table in her basement with her husband when the tornado passed.

“When it ended, which seemed to last forever, you could just hear people screaming ‘help’,” she says. Her husband then rushed outside and “started digging up people.”

The couple then turned what was left of their home into a country health clinic, dressing the injured skull of a neighbor and providing further care to a child with a fractured ankle.

This Tuesday, in the midst of the noises of the chainsaws, which cut the uprooted trees, Mr.^me Gordon is busy trying to find some of his personal belongings and objects that are dear to him.

At one point, emotion seems to overwhelm her when she gets her hands on a tin box that holds precious childhood photos and more of her daughter.

“I lost a lot, but I found irreplaceable things. I consider myself lucky, ”she said.

The facade of his house was blown by the wind, but some rooms are intact. The couple’s bedroom had the roof ripped off, exposing it to the elements. When asked whether she will want to rebuild, the fifty-something replies: “I don’t know”.

Lost cats

Still on Pine Street, a resident, Susan Lacy, tries to find her sister’s eight cats, all missing.

“Bella! Henry! Felix Rex! Aria! “, She cries.

Further on, another local resident, Ashley McKnight, is fortunate enough to have her house still standing, even though the roof has partially sagged. Equipped with a headlamp, she scans her home to retrieve her valuables, even sentimental ones, such as this plastic doll that she keeps preciously aside.

“We are the most tight-knit community imaginable,” she assures us. “I think my guardian angel up there did something to keep my house there.”