Daily Mississippian

Media Credit: Bill Latham A month after a tornado ripped through this section of Oxford's Caterpillar Plant, repair work is steady and some manufacturing has even resumed.

Four weeks after the devastating tornados trampled Oxford on Feb. 5, reconstruction continues on the homes and businesses that were destroyed. From volunteer groups to family and friends helping out victims, progress is being made in the Industrial Park and Abbeville areas, but much work still remains.

Among several homes that were leveled on County Road 101, some businesses also sustained damage, including the Caterpillar Inc. plant and Dr. Ernest Harland's Lafayette Animal Clinic.

Jim Dugan, chief corporate spokesperson of Caterpillar Inc., said since the storm blew through Oxford, steady progress has been made on the reconstruction of the plant.

"We've already resumed limited reproduction for some areas of the factory," Dugan said.

The overall goal has been to maintain production and keep employees working, he said.

Temporary trailers have been placed on the factory's property, which are being used for offices, and two facilities in Water Valley have been rented and leased so employees can continue work. Employees have been moved to other Caterpillar plants outside of the Oxford area while others are involved in training programs, Dugan said.

"There's still a lot of work to be done," he said. "But we have made remarkable progress as we're working towards the return to full resumption of operations at the Oxford facility."

As for the Lafayette Animal Clinic, Harland's wife Bonnie said they are still in the process of sorting through the debris and they hope to reopen their hospital in the future.

"There's still a lot of 'if's' out there, but we hope to reopen in some form," she said. "We still don't know where we're going to be financially on reestablishing and a time frame. We don't have a clue right now."

Bonnie Harland said she and her husband have been able to see some patients since the storm, but are limited to giving vaccinations and selling supplies.

As for their animals, Bonnie Harland said the two cows that sustained injuries from the storm died shortly after.

She was happy to report, however, that her three missing cats have found their way back home.

Volunteers

Volunteers were present at nearly every stage of the tornado disaster that hit Northeast Mississippi Feb. 5, according to James Howell, executive director of the Red Cross's North Central Mississippi Service Center.

Howell said volunteers helped at the emergency operations center and the shelter at North Oxford Baptist Church the night of the storm under the advice of Jimmy Allgood, the Lafayette County emergency operations director.

"What we did is myself and two volunteers were at the EOC at the central fire station the night of the storm and we were notified that we needed a shelter open after the initial damage assessment was first coming in," Howell said.

There were probably five or 10 volunteers that were there that night, he said. A few people came in to get out of the storm but nobody stayed overnight.

About 20 businesses donated food and other supplies during the storm that Howell and other workers took out on the emergency response vehicles with them, Howell said.

He said after that, the Red Cross opened up the service center and gave out financial assistance to those that were affected. The center stayed open through Feb. 12.

He said the next day he and three local volunteers went out and did damage assessment. At that time other Red Cross workers, some volunteers and some staff of the local Red Cross, also showed up to help.

Lisa Coleman, director of Lafayette and Panola County Salvation Army Service Center, said the Salvation Army put victims of the disaster up in hotels and purchased their food and medications until they were able to move into an apartment or start working on their homes.

She said volunteers brought supplies like clean-up kits, sheets, blankets and clothes to distribute to those in need.

The only people to actually get involved with the clean-up effort were the families of the victims, she said.

"From what I've seen when we went out there, most of it was the individual's family," she said. "A lot of them have their children or their cousins or this that or the other that was actually out there helping them clean up their part.

"A lot of these people you have to realize are very prideful people, hard working families that lost their homes and most of them don't want hand-outs.

"They're pretty much doing it on their own," Coleman said.

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