A tornado’s sound is hard to describe – like a barreling train losing control. Several years ago, a tornado ripped through North High Point; the center of the storm passed less than a quarter mile from my home. It was a terrifying experience.
Looking at the tornado’s damage.
Luckily, our property wasn’t hit, but homes all around me were damaged or demolished, and people’s belongings were destroyed. Despite this, as I watched the recovery process unfold, I remember thinking to myself that things got back to normal very quickly.
Just over a year ago, a tornado touched down in East Greensboro. It landed near Barber Park and crossed over Gate City Blvd., ripping through Cottage Grove and several other neighborhoods before leaving town. In all, it affected over 1,200 structures in Greensboro. Even though it’s been a year, many are still displaced, still suffering and still recovering.
A key factor in a community’s ability to recover from a disaster comes down to finances. The area of North High Point is mostly middle-class. East Greensboro has a high poverty rate.
The storm damaged many East Greensboro homes.The blue in this photo are damaged roofs patched with tarps.
My goal is not to oversimplify. However, when a disaster tears through an under-resourced community, its impact is exacerbated by already present economic hardship. There are so many people teetering on the edge of financial collapse. One broken down car, one illness, one leaky roof, one family emergency could easily lead to losing everything. It doesn’t take much to slide off of the cliff.
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Downed trees and telephone poles blocked street passage.
The morning after the East Greensboro tornado, I threw my chainsaw in my car along with a few other tools and drove to the small home on Everitt Street that the Greensboro Housing Coalition, as part of the Collaborative Cottage Grove (a community organizing network) rents as a satellite office. Josie Williams, GHC’s Project Manager, was on her way too. It took us both a while to get to the house as we navigated through downed trees and power lines, pieces of homes, and debris. Our little office sat less than 100 yards away from the tornado’s direct path. The surrounding damage was overwhelming.
The house on Everitt Street became a community hub, complete with a grill!
There was no time to make an action plan but, having spent two years working as part of the Collaborative, we knew the neighborhood well and were determined to show up and provide what help we could. We weren’t the only ones. There was momentum in the community. Many people in the neighborhood had already been engaged in the Collaborative, had already been talking with each other and working together. Surrounded by destruction, we watched an outpouring of people show up to support one another. We were truly in the midst of community. Neighbors stopped by to check on us; we checked in on neighbors. Josie was communicating with our network, a number of community members, grassroots groups, and faith communities, encouraging people to come help.
By the end of the day, that house had become a community hub – a refuge offering food, supplies, and even a phone-charging station. The house filled with volunteers from within the community and from other, unaffected parts of town, all contributing what they could: bringing food and supplies, tarping roofs, boarding up broken windows, cutting and hauling trees, and carrying food to people trapped in their homes. A pastor from a local church set up a grill in our front yard and cooked hot dogs. There was such an overwhelming show of love and support. Later that week, there were so many people coming to volunteer and donate supplies that Greensboro Police Department had to shut down S. English Street, near our house.
In the days and weeks following the tornado, institutions came together to coordinate recovery efforts as the Storm Recovery Alliance. Staff from these organizations worked tirelessly to ensure the safety of those affected – from rehabbing homes to finding new housing for those made homeless. The Greensboro Housing Coalition being part of these efforts, I saw firsthand the phenomenal impact of this work. Still, what moved me most was that communal energy of care, service, and concern found on the ground in the direct aftermath of the storm. It was this grassroots energy, this commitment to “doing” for one another, this togetherness that laid the groundwork for those sustained recovery efforts. I’ll always be grateful that I was able to be there with the community in those first days after the storm.
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A community effort: people load water bottles into trucks to be delivered to neighbors in need.
It’s been a little over a year later, but the effects of the storm linger around East Greensboro. Vacant lots litter the neighborhood where homes used to stand. Houses are left deteriorating, exposing the neighborhood to health and safety threats. An already constrained housing market has lost vital affordable rental units. Two public elementary schools, under-resourced to begin with, were severely damaged in the tornado, forcing hundreds of students to double up with schools that were often further away from their homes. One school, Hampton Elementary, may be closing permanently from the damage.
Recovery is not an easy process. When resources are limited, it’s even harder. These folks in the path of the tornado, despite not having a lot of resources, proved incredibly resilient and had their own backs in ways that were just beautiful to witness and be part of. Disasters like these highlight the importance of community and the need to prioritize building meaningful connections with one another. Supporting and investing in our community, our neighbors, and our city needs to be an ongoing commitment, because we are all so much stronger when we work together and care for one another.
In partnership,
Brett Byerly
Executive Director, Greensboro Housing Coalition