Kenton Residents are Picking Up the Pieces After Friday's Tornado

Kenton, TN. (WNBJ)-

A swarm of tornadoes and deadly storms ripped through Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Illinois and here in Tennessee on Friday night destroying homes, and leaving dozens of others trapped inside buildings. Cinthia Lopez (tornado victim) “Everything you’ve been raised in here, and then it all just… it’s taken away within minutes.”

One community trying to recover from the devastation is Kenton, Tennessee... About an hour outside of Jackson. The Lopez family is picking up the pieces today after their house in Kenton was destroyed. I know that you all have a lot of memories and things in the house, how does it feel now to see the state of the house? *Rosa Pina gets emotional* Cinthia Lopez (tornado victim) “it’s honestly just unbelievable. It’s not the stuff you think really happens to you.”

As you can see behind me there are numerous houses in the community that have been completely demolished. But community leaders have informed me, there are no fatalities reported. The McMackin family's home was passed down from generation to generation, since the 1920’s... It's now destroyed. Colton McMackin explains how in a matter of just 30 seconds...their family memories were gone. Colton McMackin (tornado victim) “I looked around there was debris everywhere, I couldn’t see the house. It eventually cleared up and we came down to look and we just saw how bad it looked.”

What were the thoughts going through your head once you realized that this house that holds so many memories is almost completely demolished… Colton McMackin (tornado victim) “there were a lot of tears.. A lot of tears shed. We just went through trying to get any sentimental stuff, any that meant anything to us, try to get it out while we could.”

Among those helping to pick up the pieces is Kenton native Wendy Jewell. A tornado survivor herself, Wendy spent hours Sunday lending a helping hand. Wendy Jewell (Kenton native) “In 06 a tornado came through our town and destroyed it. It hit our home and our community. When I woke up the next morning there were people in our yard helping. So that’s what we’ve done.”

Bit by bit , the Kenton community is working together to restore what was lost, and despite all the damage people are grateful that no lives were lost here during Friday’s devastating storms.

Makayla Davis

mdavis@nbc39tv.com