Tornado cleanup in West Tennessee faces a long road to completion

Extensive damage left Selmer, Tennessee stuck in time at the exact moment a strong EF-3 tornado ripped through the town over a month ago. 

The tornado’s 160 mile per hour winds were strong enough to shred well-built homes and businesses on April 3. The McNairy County Emergency Management Agency reported that 332 buildings were damaged by the tornado. Among them, 108 were completely destroyed. 

The Jesus Cares Thrift Store was a total loss, according to the owner. The roof and back wall of the store collapsed. Only about 30% of the merchandise was salvageable. 

“This was the main location that families and everybody came to when they needed something,” Mayor Sherry Inman said. 

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The thrift store was a non-profit that built tiny homes across the street for those in need. The tornado damaged all the tiny homes, but the thrift store’s owner said none were completely destroyed. 

Inman estimated the tornado caused an estimated $30 million in damage. There’s no timeline for cleanup, but she said it could take up to a year. About 10,000 tons of natural debris have been taken to the county landfill. 

“It’s devastating. It’s something that you just try to always prepare for, but you can’t,” Inman said. 

The weather event killed five people in Selmer, including Jamarcus McGowan. He died two days before his daughter, Jaleiya Bryant-McGowan’s 16th birthday. 

“Two days before her 16th birthday. She was identifying her dad’s body. On her 16th birthday, we were burying her dad,” Brittany Bryant, the teenager’s mother, said. “When you go to the funeral, they put makeup on, they fix you up, they fill you in, and you look more like yourself. When you’re identifying somebody, especially after such a horrific thing, that looks a lot different.”

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McGowan, 39, lived in a trailer park in the direct path of the tornado. His family said his trailer was “bent like a paperclip.” McGowan’s 2012 Dodge Charger was the only thing of his to survive the tornado. The teenager’s family wants to fix up her father’s heavily damaged car.

“He loved this car. This car was everything to him. She wants to have her dad’s car to drive,” Bryant said. 

Most of the car’s damage is cosmetic, but the family expects it to cost about $10,000.