Marietta left reeling, but starting recovery after tornado put lives, jobs, supplies at risk

MARIETTA — Kyle Minyard has traveled across the country helping communities recover from hurricanes and other natural disasters. He never thought that one day he would be helping his own neighbors get back on their feet after a tornado tore through their southern Oklahoma hometown.

The EF4 twister destroyed Marietta’s only grocery store, ripped the roof off its lone hospital and sliced through a Dollar Tree distribution center, the largest employer in the small community of 2,800.

Minyard sat near the school cafeteria on Monday and recounted how his community had come together in less than 48 hours to provide hot meals, bottled water and toiletries to families in need.

He used a small whiteboard and a cellphone to direct the efforts of more than 150 volunteers, telling one group to move supplies to the fairgrounds and getting other crews ready to tarp roofs.

“As long as there’s a need, we’ll be here,” Minyard said.

Marietta was one of several reeling communities from a series of storms that hit Oklahoma on Saturday night. A tornado damaged several houses in nearby Ardmore and leveled several neighborhoods around downtown Sulphur, about 50 miles to the north. Four people were killed in the storms, including a 4-month-old in Holdenville.

The immediate recovery efforts in Marietta have focused on emergency needs, since the storm left most homes and businesses without power for three days. But residents also were starting to grapple with the long-term uncertainty of not knowing when their hospital would reopen or whether the Homeland grocery store and Dollar Tree distribution center would rebuild.

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'A lot of people are hurting right now'

Everyone shopped at Homeland, and hundreds of people worked at Dollar Tree, said Shane Wolfe, the children’s pastor at First Baptist Church in Marietta.

“It affects everybody in our community,” Wolfe said. “A lot of people are hurting right now.”

The distribution center, grocery store and hospital are all on the west side of Marietta near the Interstate 35 and State Highway 32 interchange. When the tornado touched down in the area, it also destroyed a Dollar General store and damaged the city’s nursing home. At least 18 homes throughout Love County, including a few near the Dollar Tree distribution center, were hit.

Police blocked access to Marietta’s hardest-hit area for hours on Monday so crews could continue clearing the overturned vehicles, twisted metal and vinyl roofing that the tornado left behind. Linemen also were repairing snapped electric lines and poles. Power was finally restored to most of the community about 2 a.m. Tuesday.

Later that day, officials still were surveying the full extent of the damage and figuring out how much it would cost to rebuild, said Kermit McKinney, Marietta’s mayor. He felt hopeful that all of the damaged businesses, including the Dollar Tree that employed nearly 500 people, eventually would be back up and running.

“Everyone that I’ve talked to is planning on yes, building back,” he said. “And I keep telling them ‘Yes, build back — bigger, better and stronger.’”

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But McKinney acknowledged he and other city leaders were bracing for an economic shock amid the recovery efforts. Twenty percent of the sales tax collected by the city came from the destroyed Homeland and Dollar General, he said.

The much bigger blow will be the jobs lost, at least temporarily, from the Dollar Tree distribution center, he said.

“Not only those jobs, but the hospital’s jobs and Homeland’s jobs and Dollar General’s jobs,” he added.

Plans for destroyed Dollar Tree warehouse near Marietta remain unclear

Representatives of Dollar Tree and Homeland did not respond to questions from The Oklahoman about their plans in the aftermath of the storm.

Dollar Tree executives issued a public statement Tuesday, saying the company was committed to helping employees during the “business recovery process.” The statement said it would help workers with “temporary work relocation, well-being resources and access to the Company’s Associate Relief Fund.”

A spokesperson would not say if the company would definitely repair the 1-million-square-foot site or if workers would continue to be paid wages and receive insurance coverage.

McKinney said structural engineers were at the distribution center Tuesday to assess the damage from the tornado, which cut through part of the building and peeled away a portion of the roof. Other parts of the roof collapsed onto the multi-tiered shelving inside the distribution center, said McKinney, who visited the site.

“We’re encouraged that they’re going to rebuild,” he said. “It’s just how, safely, because of so much of that roof bracing is gone.”

More: What towns in Oklahoma were hit by tornadoes this weekend? Map, severity

The tornado was not the first to sideline hundreds of jobs in southern Oklahoma. In 1995, a tornado struck the Uniroyal Goodrich tire plant in Ardmore, about 20 miles north of Marietta. The massive plant, which employed more than 2,000 people, was idled for at least six weeks, according to newspaper reports.

“It was very disruptive, but the company and the community and the region frankly came together to help get that facility back in operation,” said Bill Murphy, president of the Ardmore Chamber of Commerce. “Our hope is Dollar Tree will experience similar support in the region.”

State may help open temporary grocery store while Homeland rebuilds

McKinney said he had also talked with executives of Homeland, which operated the destroyed grocery store, who told him they planned to return. The Oklahoma City-based grocer is also discussing the possibility of opening a temporary grocery store with the help of the state, McKinney said.

In recent days, the local community action agency has started providing free round-trip rides to a Walmart about 20 miles away in Ardmore, so locals can stock up on food and supplies. The organization is also building up its emergency food pantry after the tornado damaged the one on the hospital campus.

“We are prepared to take people back and forth to Ardmore for how long it takes,” said Kevin Stinson, chief operating officer of Big Five Community Services, which runs the area transit system.

Local groups and residents have come together in dozens of other ways, setting up a volunteer command center and donation hub at the county fairgrounds. Minyard was helping to coordinate the efforts.

“We have a lot of donations coming in, and we have a lot of donations going out,” he said.

State officials also have opened a mobile clinic on the site, since the local clinic was attached to the hospital.

The indefinite closure of the hospital is one of the biggest impacts Marietta residents will face in the coming weeks and months, said Denice Halstied, who runs downtown restaurant The Taste by Chef Rodney with her sister and brother-in-law. She also leads an organization of downtown businesses.

While her business and others on Main Street escaped damage, the tornado hit the places where people get care, where they shop for food and where they work, Halstied said.

“It’s going to affect the community substantially,” she said.

More: Photos, videos show tornadoes in Oklahoma leave behind trail of destruction

Deanna Criswell, the top official for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, surveyed much of the damage Tuesday, along with Gov. Kevin Stitt. She also traveled to Sulphur, where she planned to meet with Bill Anoatubby, the governor of the Chickasaw Nation.

McKinney said he believed Criswell’s agency eventually would issue a federal disaster declaration, which would help Marietta and other communities cover rebuilding costs. The efforts will take at least a year, the mayor said.

“We’re going to get through it,” he said, “and we’re going to be better because of it.”

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Marietta Oklahoma begins recovery after EF4 tornado