(LEX 18) — Rolling Fork, Mississippi, is similar in size to Dawson Springs, and now both small towns share a terrible experience.
Rolling Fork was nearly completely destroyed by a tornado over the weekend, and Dawson Springs is still building back from a tornado that ripped through its town more than a year ago.
Jack Whitfield, judge executive of Hopkins County, Ky., said that seeing images of Rolling Fork on television was reminiscent of what those in Dawson Spring saw.
“It's just heartbreaking,” Whitfield said. “Because we know firsthand the devastation that it causes."
Whitfield told LEX 18 about some of the difficulties Dawson Springs faced in the immediate aftermath of the tornado, including advice to Rolling Fork to put security in place to protect against looters.
"That's something they'll have to get a handle on pretty quick, and it's one of the most awful things,” Whitfield said. “You see people go through devastation like this, and then someone comes to take what they've got left, which is not much to begin with."
Whitfield also recalled the flood of volunteers that rushed to Dawson Springs almost immediately after the tornado. In hindsight, Whitfield said the town would have benefited by having someone in place to direct all those volunteers.
“The organization early on wasn't there, and we had so many people coming,” Whitfield said. “We probably could've gotten more done faster had we had better organization – but in a situation like that, very few people have experience with that."
Whitfield says about 75 percent of the homes in Dawson Springs were destroyed by the tornado, and that the town is slowly building back.
