Survival mode: 70 tornado victims stay in shelter; many scramble to protect what's left

CARUTHERSVILLE, Mo. -- Debbie Dunavant and most of her tight-knit family lived within shouting distance of each other on 18th Street, three sisters in separate houses all within a block of their grandmother's house.

The winds of Sunday evening scattered the family to the homes of relatives, some closer than others but none as nearby as they were before the tornado. One house has no roof. The others fared little better as the cyclone battered down walls, toppled trees onto cars and erased garages.

How the family will rebuild the homes -- or if they will -- hasn't been too much on anybody's mind yet, Dunavant said as she worked to clear debris and thought about how she might protect what is left of her house from predicted storms.

"We haven't thought that far ahead," she said. "The home we grew up in is uninhabitable. It will be a long time."

As Dunavant's nephew, James Bullington, carried boxes to a pickup truck and her daughter, Stephanie Dunavant, helped sort through items, the pace of cleanup and recovery work increased around them.

Red Cross and Salvation Army mobile canteens drove slowly through neighborhoods, dropping off meals for anyone who was hungry.

Convoys of utility workers streamed down Interstate 55 to replace downed poles as soon as bulldozers could clear enough debris.

Those made homeless by the storm are gradually finding temporary housing. Saundra Blankenship of Benton, Mo., manager of the Red Cross emergency shelter in the community center, said she had about 70 people stay overnight Tuesday out of 194 who have signed up to use the accommodations.

Late Tuesday, President George Bush declared Pemiscot County a disaster area, making residents eligible for federal disaster loans and grants.

But before that announcement, volunteer agencies had to call in police to disperse a crowd of more than 400 people who were jamming the entryway to a Methodist church basement where the Red Cross was taking applications for help.

There was no violence, said Bruce Bailey, director of Americorps volunteers from St. Louis. But not everyone could be helped on the same day, and he didn't want trouble as he tried to explain that some people would have to return.

"There is a potential, when people are under stress because they have lost a lot of their worldly possessions," he said. "It was more of a protective step."

In all, the tornado Sunday destroyed 21 homes in Pemiscot County and caused major damage to 57 more. Another 64 were moderately damaged. In addition, 15 businesses sustained damage, including three that were destroyed.

Power was out to about 1,600 homes as of Wednesday afternoon, and tap water in Caruthersville was under a boil order.

Supplies are finding their way to the town and outlying areas, such as Braggodocio, where damage was greatest. One meat supplier promised 1,000 pounds of chicken and an Anheuser-Busch distributor promised 22 pallets of bottled water.

"It has not been 72 hours yet, and I feel this town is coming together very well," said Mayor Diane Sayre. "We are doing as good a job as is humanly possible."

The piles of debris lining streets in the worst-hit sections of town are fueling rumors. One resident of 18th Street said she had heard that condemned houses will be bulldozed, piled in with the debris from trees and utility poles and burned.

That's not true, Sayre said. "The city will not be bulldozing properties," she said. "It is a very emotional time, and some people have lost everything."

The city will move the debris lining streets to a central location and burn it under a special permit from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, Sayre said. That, she added, may be the germ of the rumors about burning damaged homes.

The Caruthersville school board held an emergency meeting to discuss where to put students who normally attend the heavily damaged high school. A decision must be made soon, Sayre said, because the school will not be ready for use after next week's spring break.

Some people are determined to stay. Some residences survived the worst of the storm while neighbors just across the street have no roof or walls.

"Still Here and Standing Tall" reads the message on plywood covering the windows of Kristin Turner's 18th Street home. Prior to the storm, she was planning on buying the house she shares with her daughter and boyfriend. She still plans to purchase it, she said.

"It didn't mess with anything inside," Turner said as she swept debris from her porch.

Two houses away, Bill Orton and his mother Hazel Orton are living in a home without power but they aren't budging. Hazel Orton relies on oxygen, but that didn't stop her from attempting to sweep away glass and other debris around the back door to her home. Where she swept, a carport had been ripped away from the house.

"It's livable," Bill Orton said. "We've got our water working."

Out in the country about 10 miles from Caruthersville, the people of unincorporated Braggadocio are also making decisions about their future. Todd Coppage told a visitor the enormous debris pile next to his roofless home was a cotton gin -- no identifiable shapes remain that would give any clue to the use of the mangled machinery.

Coppage already has an insurance settlement on his home and is waiting for word from the adjusters on his cotton gin. He's not sure he's going to return, but he's got nothing but praise for those who came to help.

"They have done an excellent job of getting the road cleared," he said. "A tremendous amount of people showed up to help."

Outside the shattered Braggadocio Baptist Church, a makeshift relief station has been set up. Winds stripped bricks from the exterior walls, collapsed the roof and partially caved in the structure. Caleb Davis, a farmer and fertilizer dealer, said that almost as soon as the storm moved out, two trucks from the University of Missouri Delta Center arrived, one loaded with water and soda and the other with ice and sandwiches.

And the next day, a crew from the center brought backhoes and a large bulldozer. The help hasn't stopped coming, he said, and he's grateful.

"People here have just turned to it and done a wonderful job of helping each other," he said.

Down a dirt road from the Baptist church, Marla Gill was picking through her belongings with the help of her daughter, Wesley Huffard, and a friend, Pat Pikey. They were searching for heirlooms and photographs before the shattered 140-year-old farmhouse is bulldozed today.

"The house was a grand house," Gill said wistfully. "It was two-story, with ante-bellum columns, all made of cypress."

She purchased the home six years ago, Gill said. During the storm, she huddled in a compartment under the stairs. "I started feeling the foundation of the house tremble," she said. "I held that door so tight, I felt if the door went anywhere I was going to go with it."

When she looked up after the storm passed, she said she saw daylight.

The storm shredded the house. The roof was peeled back like the lid of a can of peanuts. In the kitchen, a copy of "To Kill a Mockingbird" came to rest on top of a jar of pickle slices.

A mixture of plaster, grass and food cans lay ankle deep on the floor. And a chain-link fence, matted with grass, was wrapped around the opening where the back door once stood.

She's not going to rebuild, Gill said. And she's not taking much from the home, which had been furnished with antiques. "We salvaged a little furniture," she said. "But it's covered in mud."

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WANT TO HELP?

The Salvation Army disaster assistance effort in Pemiscot County needs numerous items for families and individuals who have lost their homes. A truck leaves the Cape Girardeau office daily to take supplies to Car-uthersville, Thomas said. Among the items needed, said Major Mike Thomas, are the following:

* Toilet items such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, razors, soap and toilet paper.

* Cleaning supplies, including gloves, mops, brooms, bleach, paper towels and sponges.

* Sanitary supplies such as diapers, adult diapers, feminine hygiene products and disposable wipes.

* Nonperishable food items.

* Clothing for all ages.

SALVATION ARMY donations

Address: 701 Good Hope St.

Note: Supplies and monetary donations are being accepted.

AMERICAN RED CROSS Financial donations

Address: 2430 Myra Drive in Cape Girardeau.

Phone: 335-9471 or (800) 435-7669.

Note: Donations may be designated for victims of a particular disaster or made as a general contribution to disaster relief efforts.

-- From staff reports