Three years to the day after an EF-4 tornado tore through Mayfield and Graves County, local officials and community members dedicated eight new homes to families that survived the disaster.
The far western Kentucky community is still recovering from the historic tornado outbreak that killed 81 people in the Commonwealth — including 24 in Graves County — and damaged or destroyed thousands of buildings across the western half of the Commonwealth.
Scars from the deadly tornado still linger in downtown Mayfield in the form of torn-up buildings and splintered trees. But there are also signs of progress as crews work to rebuild neighborhoods, infrastructure and government buildings in the heart of the Graves County seat. Officials broke ground in October on a new city hall and police station, both of which were destroyed in the December 2021 tornado. A new county courthouse is also currently under construction.
While Mayfield Mayor Kathy O’Nan thinks the community should not forget the city’s residents who died during one of the worst natural disasters in Kentucky’s history, she said the anniversary of the tornado also served as a celebration of the town’s rebirth and growth.
“It took a lot from us. It changed our history. From now on, we will be, ‘Mayfield: Aren’t you, that town where they had that bad tornado?’ Yes, we are, but let me tell you about the blessings that have come to us since then,” O’Nan said. “We refuse to be defined by the horror of that night. But I know all of us here really are thankful to be defined by what came from that.”
Several nonprofit groups have helped the community by repairing and building homes for tornado survivors. The homes dedicated on Tuesday were built by the Hope Initiative, a local nonprofit that’s aided in the construction of more than 50 Mayfield homes since the disaster.
Stephen Boykin, the lead pastor at His House Ministries in Mayfield, is part of Hope Initiative’s executive board. He said the far western Kentucky community would not be where it is now in its recovery process without the help of thousands of volunteers.
“We’ve had the opportunity to have people that said, ‘I must go to Mayfield.’ We’ve had people in our community that said, ‘I must serve this community.’ We’ve been carried by folks who said they had to make a difference,” Boykin said.
He said Hope Initiative is now working to pay that spirit forward. After helping with survivors of Hurricane Helene in Georgia, Boykin said the Graves County-based nonprofit is looking at launching a second site in 2025 to continue to provide disaster relief in other areas.
Meanwhile, O’Nan said the city is going to look like a “big construction mess” in 2025, when all of its municipal building projects will be underway.
For her, the anniversary is a balancing act between remembering those who lost their lives, and looking back at how far her community has come since then.
“We never forget the 24 Graves Countians that lost their lives. And so this day is so much about them, too,” O’Nan said. “But then we look around and see what all has started in just three years. We know it’s a 10-year process, probably. So to be this far along in rebuilding in three years, we are so excited.”
(This story first ran on WKMS, the public radio station at Murray State University.)
Hannah Saad is the assistant news director for WKMS. Originally from Michigan, Hannah earned her bachelor’s degree in news media from The University of Alabama. Prior to joining WKMS in March 2023, Hannah was a news reporter at The Paducah Sun.
