Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders is visiting places most affected by Friday's tornadoes. On Sunday, she went to the east Arkansas town of Wynne in Cross County. Four of Wynne’s roughly 9,000 residents died during the tornado outbreak which swept across large swaths of the Midwest and South last week.
The governor joined members of her cabinet including Parks, Heritage and Tourism Secretary Mike Mills and Education Secretary Jacob Oliva, as well as Administrator Deanne Criswell of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The group toured the school along with the town's mayor and superintendent.
Winds at the high school tore through the roof and all but destroyed its football field. The school parking lot was covered in giant piles of debris. No one in the school was harmed. Wynne School Superintendent Kenneth Moore said they made the decision to evacuate all the students and teachers before the tornado struck down.
“Obviously this is an unbelievably tragic moment for our state,” The governor said. She told a story about finding a place deep in the school where the walls had caved in.
“Absolute and total destruction except on two walls. One of them is the mural of the city of Wynne and it's been there for decades. On the other, ‘Once a 'jacket always a 'jacket.’ I think those two things really symbolize who and what this community is,” she said, noting the school's Yellowjacket mascot.
She said she was proud to be governor and was moved by the volunteers who had led efforts to clean up the school.
“Nothing is going to destroy us, nothing is going to bring us down,” she said.
President Biden has authorized federal aid to go toward cleanup efforts in Arkansas. Criswell said FEMA would be there “for the long haul” and that the federal aid could help reimburse debris cleanup.
The group then stood in front of the First United Methodist Church where American flags surrounded the property but the steeple had fallen in.
Entire neighborhoods of Wynne have been demolished, and residents and volunteers continue working to remove debris. Sanders said she was impressed by the cleanup work done so far, and that the state is preparing for the possibility of more severe weather later in the week.
She met with teams of volunteers and those standing on the street who lost their homes in the tornadoes.
High school senior Michael Langston did not lose his home in the tornado, but was working with his family to clean up debris for those who did.
“It was a little heartbreaking to see the field I was supposed to walk on in a few months,” he said referencing the high school football field where graduation is held. Langston described the Wynne community as “close” and “godly.”
“They come together when they need to.”
Wynne Resident, Sylvesta Light lost her home in the storm. She said she first heard of the tornadoes when she was watching the news Friday and saw the neighborhood she lives in light up with a tornado warning.
“We were in the hallway and glass and everything was coming against the house,” she said. “We were down with our hands on our heads praying. That was the worst thing I have seen in this time.”
More severe weather could potentially be headed toward the state Tuesday night into Wednesday. The governor said she is doing everything to stay prepared.
