In Springfield tornado recovery, neighbors rally together

With winds up to 120 mph, the EF-2 tornado that hit the city of Springfield severely damaged several businesses, snapped and uprooted trees, tore the roofs of some buildings and even bent a steel transmission pole.

That’s left residents and volunteers cleaning up, including near a Kroger grocery store that has been closed and at a damaged fire department. Additional businesses and some homes were also badly damaged.

On Monday, the Kroger was inaccessible to the public due to downed power lines, but the parking lot was buzzing with contractors racing to reopen the grocery store, with hopes that could happen by Wednesday. Repairs to the windows and facade will be ongoing, and customers will likely still see debris and damaged cars when they shop this week.

“All these cars can’t be touched until insurance … takes care of it,” said Bobby Tucker, the worker in charge of clearing out the dumpsters.

I’m reporting on tornado damage in Springfield for @WPLN . A Kroger and the surrounding shopping center were hit hard and some power lines are down. Houses across the street seem ok pic.twitter.com/DizFZMrsQR

— Char Daston (@behindthissky) December 11, 2023

For homeowners dealing with debris on their properties, the city will offer curbside collection of storm debris on Wednesday and Thursday.

Meanwhile across town, a long line of cars moved through the parking lot of the Walmart Supercenter to pick up free bottled water at an event co-sponsored by Walmart and the local United Way. Many in the stream of drivers had not suffered damage to their own homes, but intended to distribute water to their friends and neighbors.

“The hardest thing was yesterday when we said, ‘We have to assess the damage, everyone needs to relax for a little bit.’ There are so many people who want to help,” said Tiffany Thompson, a United Way community manager.

One driver in line, Carlos Perez, said he appreciated the event.

“I think it’s really a nice gesture,” he said.

Back by the Kroger at Memorial Road, a team of utility workers supervised by Springfield Electric replaced one of the downed power lines. Most power outages were confined to the homes and businesses in that area — people toward the edges of town had their power restored over the weekend. Gary Noel, who supervised the work on the power lines, said that the next step is bringing a nearby substation back online.

The utility has been working through the weekend responding to calls reporting outages. But Noel says that locals have gone out of their way to show their gratitude.

“Since we’ve been out here we’ve had customers walking around giving us food, coffee, whatever we need. Lets you know they appreciate what we’re doing,” he said.