JACKSONVILLE, Ark. – As the risk of more severe weather looms above, entire neighborhoods of people in Jacksonville are still without power or a home. Days after the tornado blew through many learned Tuesday from insurance agents their houses are a total loss.
On Eastview Drive, Tiffany Carter said she has nothing to come back to but she can’t help but return to her door day after day.
“I keep coming back, and it’s like where else do I go at this point? You go to work, you go home,” Carter explained.
She said she has no room left in her car for belongings that didn’t get destroyed by wind or water. She appreciates all the help from churches and individuals for her immediate needs but feels lost for the long term.
“We could use more resources that we could use later or maybe storage, and people need boxes or bins, cause you know you wasn’t prepared so you don’t have anything to put things in. And small items. I looked for a rubber band for two days,” Carter said.
What Carter and her neighbors once had now looks like a landfill between their homes. Edith Selvidge had lived in the same home for over 50 years before the roof ripped off home as she, her husband and her son huddled in a bathroom.
“Yesterday, it just kind of hit me and I just cried a lot. I was so busy the days before,” Selvidge said.
The whole experience has been traumatic and they say it has them especially concerned with any chance of severe weather.
“Wind blows, we’re scared. Rain drops, we’re afraid. So for a lot of us, I think it’s just the what’s going to happen next? Is this going to happen again?,” Carter said.
With so much torn away, they are learning they still have something else to hold onto.
“We work so hard for these things, and we don’t work as hard for the love that we have, but then when you realize what’s going to last and what’s more important and what’s going to stay it’s love,” Carter said.
While you can’t turn anywhere without seeing the destruction, the same can be said for love. As Carter leaves her home for the final time, she’s determined to keep that going even when the cleanup process ends.
“I still have to go to work and rebuild. I still have to start over, but my goal is more showing more love than making more money to get this back,” Carter said.