Marshall homeowner reflects on receiving help a year after EF-4 tornado
BENTON, Ky. – Fourteen months after an EF-4 tornado roared through far western Kentucky, some homeowners find themselves just now getting the repairs they need.
The Marshall County Long-Term Recovery Group formed after the Dec. 10, 2021 tornado. The organization links survivors with helper agencies and groups, such as Inspiritus, a Lutheran-based organization that provides long term recovery assistance to people with unmet needs following a natural disaster. Inspiritus crews joined a group from the International Orthodox Christian Charities at the home of Bobby and Linda Woods, whose house on a ridge overlooking Benton-Briensburg Road, suffered roofing, siding and window damage.
“It’s just been so taxing on these survivors,” said Stacey Mills, administrative assistant for the Marshall County Long-Term Recovery Group. “They are mentally exhausted and physically exhausted from doing the work.”
Marshall County tornado survivors also can apply for Public Protection Cabinet funding from the Team Western Kentucky Tornado Fund until July 15 or until the state reallocates unused funds.
“People may have had insurance, but it may have been a huge deductible,” Mills said. “We want to help in any way that we can if folks qualify. So that’s why we are really pushing for them to apply” online.
Tornado survivors can receive a $3,500 distribution from the Team Western Kentucky Tornado Fund. Originally, the state had allocated $3.5 million, but the amount was decreased to $1.575 million on March 13, according to a Facebook Live post by the Marshall County Long Term Recovery Group.
Marshall County Long Term Recovery Group chairman Mark Sickling said only 450 tornado survivors will be eligible to receive the $3,500 distribution. However, if more than 450 survivors apply, the Team West Kentucky Tornado Fund officials said they will work with the Long Term Recovery Group to find additional funding. Over the past six weeks, the group has processed and sent off 160 applications, Sickling said in the Facebook Live video.
Volunteers initially helped the Woods family clear 15 trees from their driveway immediately after the storm. Their house suffered damage to the roof, siding and windows. The wind blew in a window but did not disturb her Christmas tree.
For Woods, the work of volunteer groups through the Marshall County Long Term Recovery Group offers a blessing. Her husband, Bobby, who taught industrial arts in the Marshall County Schools, built their house in the 1980s. A medical condition robbed him of the ability to do carpentry and repair work himself.
That’s where the volunteer groups such as Inspiritus fill in the gaps.
270 Stories reporters Grace Boatright and Noah Crum take us to visit with Woods as repairs start on her home on Benton-Briensburg Road in Marshall County:
