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Tornado survivors hold vigil

By Nathan Ryder - bio | email | Twitter
Posted by Noah Stubbs - email

VANDERBURGH CO., IN (WFIE) - There was a coming together Friday night to remember the 25 people who lost their lives, and also the survivors of the November 6 tornado.

"The community is never going to forget what happened four years ago," Debbie Burns said. So our goal is to give them a place. A place to come together, to be together, to remember, to reflect, to know that their loved ones are not forgotten, to remember the many that were wounded, the survivors and so much courage there and to remember to thank all of our rescue workers and all those who gave."

Remembering November 6, dozens gather at Eastbrook's Memorial Park to remember their family, friends and neighbors whose lives were turned upside down in the middle of the night.

"When it happened, when the tornado happened I went out and helped with finding survivors and getting people out from underneath the rubbish," survivor Thomas Richardson said. "It's just kind of a sentimental thing here."

By daylight, you can still see the physical scars left by that tornado as it tore a path through Eastbrook Mobile Home Park.

Some debris still remains wrapped through trees in the nearby woods.

"It is an awesome reminder, the emptiness here, of what was taken," Debbie Burns said.

The debris may be long gone from that tornado four years ago but the visual reminders of that destruction are still here and very easy to see.

Concrete pads are where homes once stood but now are left completely empty.

"More homes are moving in," Debbie Burns said. "There's one across the street now. Some more homes are moving in but it will never be the way it was. And I think our community won't be."

Together they lost so much but survivors say that feeling of community is something that can never be taken away.

"You can see how far we've come, even though the pain is still there," survivor Betty Richardson said. "It can remind you that when you see someone, don't just smile and wave. Get to know them while they're here."

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