Amory High athletics facilities ripped apart by Mississippi tornado; coaches react

Brooks Dampeer remembers the tornado warning sirens roaring throughout Amory on Friday night. The Amory High football coach was aware that severe weather was headed for his community — the question was how bad the damage would be.

"Like any other time when you have warnings you hope that nothing bad happens," Dampeer said. "That wasn't the case last night."

The sirens continued for over an hour before the devastating tornado touched down, and it only took a few minutes to leave a path of destruction. Dampeer, along with Panthers baseball coach Chris Pace, would find Amory's athletics facilities in ruin early Saturday morning.

Amory was one of three communities hit by Friday's tornadic activity. Mississippi Emergency Management reports at least 23 people have died from tornado that crushed Amory, Rolling Fork and Silver City in the state's deadliest outbreak since at least 2011.

Dampeer and Pace left their homes in Meadowbrook Circle around 2:30 a.m. with flashlights Saturday to begin surveying the area. The coaches live less than two miles from Amory High School but were forced to walk due to overturned trees and fallen powerlines.

"It's kind of like a dream," Dampeer said. "That these things really happened. We're walking over wires, watching our step and as your walking the whole time you're thinking 'Maybe it's not as bad as we think at the school.' We get there and it was bad."

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Dampeer and Pace found the baseball and softball fields ripped through by the tornado.

"We lost our whole facility," Pace said.

The scope of the destruction became apparent after daybreak Saturday. Pace returned to the fields to see community members trying to salvage what they could from the Amory athletics complex.

Both coaches began reaching out to their respective teams: neither coach reported the death of a player following the tornado.

"We're thankful for the majority of people we could get in touch with that were OK," Dampeer said. "You can always rebuild these structures, but we are thankful that our kids are OK"

'We just have to pull together as a community'

South Delta football coach KePatrick Barnes ushered his wife and two grandchildren into a safe zone in his home as the tornado reached Rolling Fork. The sirens started around 7 p.m. Friday, and the large wedge tornado touched down between 8 and 8:30 p.m., Barnes said.

"I heard a loud noise like a train was coming," Barnes said. "My house started shaking. I got me and my family to the front of the house and we prayed and knelt down."

The storm passed through Barnes' community in north Rolling Fork, damaging his roof. The downpour and thunderstorm that followed left water leaking in his home.

Barnes and his family weren't able to leave until Saturday morning because of the debris and power lines blocking roads. However, when Barnes exited his home during sunrise he was greeted by an unrecognizable scene in the community he's lived in for over two decades.

"The inner part of the city and along Highway 61 is leveled," Barnes said.

The South Delta School district also experienced damage to the elementary and high school buildings.

South Delta didn't have any player deaths, according to Barnes early Saturday morning. However, Barnes said one athlete's mother died at work due to Friday's severe weather. Barnes did not name the athlete.

"We just have to pull together as a small community," Barnes said. "Help each other get through this and try to rebuild."

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'It's devastating'

Roy Watson lives near Holly Bluff. However, the tornado warnings issued for Rolling Fork made the South Delta basketball coach think of his father, Roy W. Watson, who has lived in the southwest side of Rolling Fork for three decades.

Watson immediately called his father and told him to take shelter. His father's neighborhood was right in the path of the storm.

"It's devastating," Watson said. "That's my home (with) family and friends.

"(My father) is OK but he lost his home."

Watson planned to help his father salvage any personal belongings from the rubble Saturday. However, the community he remembers is drastically different. Chuck's Dairy Bar — a landmark in the community — was destroyed in the storm.

"Chuck's Dairy Bar is a pillar of the community," Watson said. "The owner Chuck gives as much as she can to the school, farmers and everybody. She stayed open during the backwater flood that hurt us a few years back. Her business is gone."

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Mississippi tornado destroys Amory athletics fields; Rolling Fork reacts