Three years ago a tornado brought nothing but disaster to the City of Mayfield

MAYFIELD Ky. (KBSI) – A level of destruction that’s hard to even imagine but is the reality for Mayfield Kentucky and other towns in the region. 

December 10, 2021 is a day many will never forget.

“It hit multiple buildings that were like, really close to us and stuff,” said Hoover.

Asia Hoover is a senior at Mayfield High School. She says she was a freshman traveling with her friends in Nashville when she got a call from her mom saying that a deadly tornado was on the way. 

“We found out that it’s hit. We thought it hit our school at first. But it hit our church,” said Hoover.

Churches and an estimated four thousand homes destroyed this picture was taken of the three year recovery of Mayfield this past October. 

People coming together to donate money and put their hands to work to rebuild. 

“The community was just brought together and they provided so much clothing and food and water, like every single necessity that you could think of that a person would need. And so it was just really emotional and stuff coming back home and driving through the town and it looked like it literally got hit by a bomb, like everything that you grew up knowing was destroyed,” said Hoover.

Students like Asia left wondering if her school, home, and loved would be okay. 

Families are wondering how they would rebuild.

The Fire Chief of Mayfield and father of three girls, Jeremy Creason. He says he is lucky to even be able to be here today. He will always remember the dozens who lost their lives in the storm. 

“You know, first off, I’m thankful that I’m alive today. There are citizens of our community that aren’t here with us today so, you know, I have a hard time with that. I have three daughters and a wife, and I had to send them home, without dad. And that was tough,” said Creason.

Creason says he spent weeks after the storm trying to help others along with helping his fellow firefighters deal with damage to their station.

 “You know, my wife, she gave me a kiss, said, you know, we’ll see you soon. And, And so then we went, I stayed at work. They went home. We talked a few times over the phone. She was my first call to let her know that I was okay and loved. And then I said, “I don’t know when I’ll be home.”

The Mayor of Mayfield, Kathy O’nan says she has put her heart and soul into this town not only as a mayor, but as a teacher, city council member and citizen.

She says even three years later the memory of the storm remains surreal.

“It’s amazing to me to realize that it’s been three years ago today. That was a day that nobody who lives here will ever forget, because it changed whether your home was hit. Sadly, if you lost someone you loved or business was hit. Everybody was impacted. First year I learned what I was doing. Second year here came Covid. We got through that. We got kind of normal again.And then here came the tornado. So I’m not really sure what it’s like to be a normal mayor. Well, what an honor it is to serve this city in this historic time for us.”

The city of Mayfield has started repairing several buildings such as City Hall but there’s still a lot of work to do.