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Tornado survivor: ‘I felt like the last person on earth’
Sheri McGraw, Special to RedCross.org
Monday, November 20, 2006 — RIEGELWOOD, N.C. — The rain continued to pour as Riegelwood, N.C., resident Cissy Kennedy ran out of her house and into the most terrifying scene she’d ever witnessed.
Spawned by a severe weather front that had been barraging the Gulf Coast with thunderstorms earlier in the week, a tornado ripped through the town of Riegelwood, N.C., early on Nov. 16, 2006, damaging or destroying homes in its path.
Homes were ripped off their foundations when the twister blew through Columbus County.
(Photo Credit: Sheri McGraw/American Red Cross)
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“I was the first one out the door, and I felt like the last person on earth,” Kennedy said. “The silence was deafening, even through the pouring rain.” What she saw in her neighborhood, moments after a powerful tornado tore through in the early morning hours of Nov. 16 will stay with her forever.
Kennedy also survived Hurricane Floyd in 1999, although her former home in Tickbite, N.C., was completely destroyed by 11 feet of water. She’s no stranger to the work of the American Red Cross.
“Just having them here in the neighborhood every day has been such a comfort,” said Kennedy. “The Red Cross has come with three meals a day, every day since the tornado hit.”
Kennedy hasn’t had much time to cook. Along with friends and family, she works from sunup to sundown making repairs to her mobile home. Miraculously, it sustained only minor damage, while many of her neighbors’ homes were reduced to rubble, and several of her neighbors did not survive.
Just a few miles down Highway 87 in Mt. Pleasant, N.C., Vivian Waddell was living a similar nightmare that morning. Her daughter was heading out the door to the school bus when the tornado ripped through her neighborhood.
“The house started trembling,” recalled Waddell. “I thought the world came to an end.”
While she and her daughter were unharmed, she quickly learned that her nephew’s home was destroyed; a mattress happened to land on him and served as his lifesaver. Waddell lost many friends in the storm, but she cannot say enough about the first responders and Red Crossers who immediately came to the aid of the entire town.
Mt. Pleasant, N.C., resident Vivian Waddell visits with families and friends while pausing for a meal at the Riegelwood Baptist Church, which served as operation headquarters for the Red Cross during its response to the North Carolina Tornado.
(Photo Credit: Sheri McGraw/American Red Cross)
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“We continued to have tornado warnings after the first one struck, and I couldn’t believe it when I saw the Red Cross vehicles in the neighborhood, even though we were afraid another tornado was coming,” she said.
Waddell’s niece Jawanda McNair was most grateful for the compassion of the Red Cross volunteers.
“They understand the emotional piece,” said McNair. “They really reached the people on a human level.”
More than 60 Red Cross volunteers from across the country responded to the disaster in
North Carolina. One of them was emergency response vehicle driver Anne Evanco.
“Now, let me tell you something about Anne,” said Jamillah Galvez of Mt. Pleasant. “After it happened, everyone was out in their yards, just trying to process it. The adults were very busy, trying to find survivors, and there was a 6-year old boy standing there crying. We were all worrying about grown-up things, and Anne saw that this little boy needed someone. She came up to him and gave him cookies, a smile, and a hug. She was priceless.”
Evanco, a volunteer from Fayetteville, N.C., says she tries to focus on the children when she responds to a disaster.
American Red Cross emergency response vehicle driver Jerry Peterson offers a hot meal to a resident of Riegelwood, N.C., as she works to clean up the damage after last week's devastating tornado. (Photo Credit: Sheri McGraw/American Red Cross)
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“They really need someone to help them realize they’re going to be OK,” she said.
The scores of other volunteers, who came from as far away as Delaware and Arkansas, worked tirelessly to provide the residents of the community with financial assistance, mental health counseling, while partnering with local churches and organizations to distribute an outpouring of goods donated by the public. Although the Red Cross discourages donations of small, individual items, at the local level some chapters may assist other organizations with distributing collected items.
Jamillah Galvez feels bittersweet about the upcoming holiday season in light of this unimaginable tragedy. Speaking of the eight people who died in the storm, she admits that “it will be sad, but it will go on in remembrance of them.”
All American Red Cross disaster assistance is free, made possible by voluntary donations of time and money from the American people. You can help the victims of thousands of disasters across the country each year, disasters like the Midwest ice storms, by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, which enables the Red Cross to provide shelter, food, counseling and other assistance to victims of disaster. The American Red Cross honors donor intent. If you wish to designate your donation to a specific disaster please do so at the time of your donation. Call 1-800-REDCROSS or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish). Contributions to the Disaster Relief Fund may be sent to your local American Red Cross chapter or to the American Red Cross, P. O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20013. Internet users can make a secure online contribution by visiting www.redcross.org.
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