Selma Continues to Recover 3 Months After the Tornado

From the West Alabama Newsroom–

People in Selma continue to recover from a tornado — that ripped through the city three months ago — and destroyed a third of the city.

Although progress has been made in the recovery effort — there’s still a long way to go — before things are back to normal.

Three months ago — a powerful EF-2 tornado — cut a 23 mile path of destruction — through Selma.

It destroyed or damaged hundreds of homes and businesses — and left thousands of people displaced.

Eighty-four year old Rosie Dunklin says she just barely made it to the safety of her bathroom — before a tree came crashing down on her house.

“God took care of me that day,” said Dunklin.

“The thing happened so fast, I couldn’t get scared. That tree came down across that house and just cut it like you took a saw and sawed it in half.”

Dunklin says she remained trapped in her house for about 20 minutes — before neighbors helped get to her out. Now she’s living with her grandson in Valley Grande — while her home is being repaired.

Richard Butler is overseeing the repairs.

“She came over the other day. And she saw some of the construction. And she was like, Man, this is really cool. I’m starting to really feel good about my house again,” said Butler.

“And that brought joy to my heart to know that she was starting to feel like herself a little bit.”

“That storm had me so I couldn’t sleep at night,” said Dunklin.

“I lost weight. I couldn’t eat no food. My children thought I was sick. I said, I’m not sick. And I was not sick. But it was, it just did something to me. But I’m thankful to be here today.”

The situation at the Dunklin house — is a microcosm — of what’s going on in the city.

Work is being done and progress is being made, but there’s still a lot that has to be done — before things are back to normal.

“We’re not there yet,” said Butler.

“We got a ways to go. But we’re going to get to the finish line.”