Project Leakesville: July 24 Update

Sunday, July 24, 2011

July 24 Update

Welcome to the Project Leakesville Blog. By having a blog, we will be able to update you frequently on the progress that is being made on the project. We will be including video and photos, and you will be able to make comments on the blog.

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Project Leakesville: Background

A little background to let you know more than the brochure tells. This couple was married 62 years. He was in his eighties and she is 78. He worked at a sawmill and each payday he would take lumber as part of his pay. Built a two room house, they got married, moved in and started a family. As the family grew he would add on to the house.

They had (I believe) six boys and one girl. One of the sons lived next door - his house was also destroyed. The man had health problems and was homebound and the kids were taking turns helping with him. The night of the tornado one of the sons and some of his family were there. As the news alert warned of potentially bad weather, one of the other family members called and told them that a tornado was on the ground and had just missed their house and was headed toward their house. This was about 9:00 at night. The lady had already laid down in another bedroom in the back of the house and was asleep. The sirens sounded and family members tried to wake her up but could not get her awake.

There were also children of the son in the house and they put them in the bathtub and covered them with whatever they could find. The son that was staying with them that night put the covers and pillows on the bed over his dad and just laid over him and held him down to keep the force of the tornado from sucking him out of the bed. The storm hit and lasted just a few seconds and was over, all but the rain. Keep in mind that it is total darkness because all power poles and lines have been destroyed. The house was completely destroyed except the bathroom area, and one wall was still standing in the room where the man was in the hospital bed. Everything else was blown away.

They found the lady near the front of the house lying on the floor and she had been struck on the head by something. The man had been hit on the leg and it was fractured. Thanks to the use of cell phones 911 was called but could not get within 2 blocks of their house with emergency vehicles. So, they had to physically carry the man and the lady through all the debris and found someone with a pickup and put them in the back of it and carried them to the hospital. The man passed away 2 weeks later. The lady is now living in a small apartment.

Here is the situation now: The lady lost her husband of 62 years, her house and ALL of her belongings. She had less than $30k worth of insurance and our goal is to build her a small house (1120 SF) at no cost to her so she can use what money she has to buy furniture, etc to set up housekeeping again.
This was a F3 tornado. Sixty eight homes were destroyed, yet it does not meet criteria for assistance from FEMA. As you can see in the pictures the debris from the house is still piled up near the street. The county is left to clean up the debris but do not have the money to do it with. Of all the tornados that have hit since then it seems that Leakesville has been forgotten.

Our intentions at Agricola Baptist are to try to make as many people aware of this project as we can and trust God to lay it on people's hearts to provide the funds and labor to build this lady a home. As long as the funds come in we will continue to build or repair homes for people that were affected by this tornado.

As you can see in the brochure, the church has a fund set up for donations with CHECKS OR by CREDIT CARD.