By: Carl Manning, American Red Cross

It’s one of those memories nobody ever wants to have, and for Kong Lor Thao it’s a memory she wants to forget, but never can.

Living on a chicken farm outside Decatur, Arkansas, with her son, Sue Thao, she was happy that her two daughters, son-in-law and two grandchildren had traveled from Minnesota to visit her.

Inside the house, the family laughed and were enjoying being together again, but a nearby storm was building in ferocity and suddenly a tornado was upon them.

The mother explained how the family crowded into a closet, but the power of the tornado was too great for the little house and suddenly it came apart with pieces of walls, floors and ceilings flying in all directions.

“Oh yes, I was scared. We were all in the closet ….,” she said, but then her words dissolved into tears and sobs as she recalled what had happened.

Red Cross volunteer Lucy Capelle sat next to the mother and listened, reaching over and touching her shoulder, which seemed to bring some measure of comfort. The mother tried to talk more, but words wouldn’t come. But the tears did. Again, Lucy was there to comfort her.

Lucy and Julio Arroyo, another Red Crosser, are part of the Red Cross team that was distributing supplies such as rakes, tarps, trash bags and work gloves. Sue accepted a couple of rakes and a few other items. But, when asked if he wanted more, he declined, saying there were others in need.

Her son, Sue, was at a friend’s home when the tornado struck, and he finally reached his mother later by cell phone only to learn that the family was at a nearby hospital where one of his visiting sister’s had been taken after being struck by flying debris. The sister is still recovering and Sue said he’s hopeful she will be ok.

Red Crosser Julio Arroyo is with a team distributing emergency supplies to Sue Thao, whose home was destroyed by a tornado that struck the Decatur, Arkansas area.

(Red Cross photos by Carl Manning)

“I was just shocked,” he said, “I didn’t know what to say; everything was gone. This is the worst thing to happen other than my dad passing away.”

He has been sorting through the rubble searching for anything to salvage and hasn’t found much worth saving. But he is determined to keep searching.

For Sue, who was born in Thailand and came to America in 1987, his decision to move in with his mother was made in 2019 when his father died and his mother was left alone on the farm.

But now the house is gone and the large chicken coop nearby is smashed. Sue said the one good thing is that he wasn’t planning to put any chickens in the coop until fall, so the structure was empty.

When asked what he plans to do, Sue said he really doesn’t know at this point.

“We’ll see after the insurance people come,” he said.