Hauling off mountains of debris has been slow to start in Putnam County, in part because the search for victims has taken so long. As of Thursday morning, three remain missing, and there’s still concern their bodies are among the rubble.
In the hours after a tornado ripped apart her home, crews helped Tamara Williams pick through the remains. They even found her VA employee badge. Then, on Wednesday they came back to sift through the rubble again, and mark it with spray paint.
“It’s very scary,” Williams says. “But we know it’s clear, so that makes it a little easier.”
Williams’ and her three children survived. But the tornado came with such fury, some victims have been found in other people’s yards.
The fatalities are concentrated in the McBroom area, where Tennessee Tech economics professor Ferdie DiFurio lives with his 9-year-old daughter. Their house collapsed on top of them but they crawled out with just cuts and bruises.
Their piled-up home has now been moved a second time, but he says he wasn’t bothering to salvage stuff anyway.
“You just have to walk away from a lot of it, because I don’t have a storage place for it,” he says. “So you just take what you can. I see my daughter’s bike there. That’s not going to come with me.”
Putnam County Sheriff Eddie Farris said late Wednesday that no bodies have been found through the second sweep. “We’re just getting us a double check,” he said. The rubble review should be complete Thursday, so debris removal can begin. Then survivors can start the long process of rebuilding.
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