Tornado Impact

 

 

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Lafayette, Macon County

 

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Video Transcript

Nat Sound
"We lost pretty much everything."

Chuck Denney
Ken Rorak's family has been farming in Macon County for two centuries, spanning five generations. But now that way of life has taken a serious hit.

Ken Rorak
"We had equipment in a shed that's now gone, some barns that are now gone, and up in the garage that's now gone."

Chuck Denney
The tornado that ripped this area with such brutal fury went right through the Rorak land. They lost a dozen barns, equipment, a silo and miles of fencing. They had to sell almost all their cattle and now face an almost overwhelming task of cleaning up and starting again.

Ken Rorak
"When you go from being used to selling 200 calves that you raise every year to nothing or 20, it creates a problem as far as finances go."

Chuck Denney
But emotion trumps economics for the Roraks. They're most grateful no one in their family was injured. But 13 people in Macon County were killed in this storm. The loss of life is foremost on everyone's mind, but also agriculture-the main way of earning a living here-has been crippled.

Steve Walker
"There's 175 farms impacted from this storm. Some of them with different degrees of damage. We've had 350 barns damaged."

Chuck Denney
Macon County Director Steve Walker says UT Extension is doing what it can to help farmers here. That includes everything from rounding up stray livestock, gathering donations of hay and feed, and food and safety and clean-up. Most agree it will take years - maybe decades - to recover from this, but the effort will be there.

Steve Walker
"Most of the farmers I visit with are very optimistic. That's their way of life and they're survivors, and it's a great challenge to them."

Chuck Denney
The cost of all this damage to farming here in Macon County could top 30 million dollars. The storms hit in the middle of winter, so no row crops were destroyed - but the cattle, tobacco and timber industries were hardest hit. Macon is a huge tobacco county. Marty Coley is one of the biggest tobacco producers in the state, farming 300 acres of burley a year.

Marty Coley
"I grow about 15% of the total plants in this county."

Chuck Denney
Coley grows those seedlings for other producers in greenhouses. But what you see here are the rebuilt versions. The entire Coley farm has also been hurt badly by this storm.

Marty Coley
"We had six greenhouses that were completely destroyed, and as you can see now we're on the mend quickly. We've lost abut four-and-a-half miles of fence. We had cattle all up in the tornado area."

Chuck Denney
The pain of this tornado will be felt in this community for years, but the rebuilding is already underway. Agriculture will be back, but it will take time, patience and a lot of hard work.

END

NOTE: Macon County farmers will likely receive aid to help with clean-up and repairs, but it's not certain when those funds will arrive.