Chuck's Dairy Bar construction signals recovery in Rolling Fork, town decimated by tornado

March 23 seems forever ago for folks in Rolling Fork.

In just two weeks, it will be six months since an EF-4 wedge tornado ripped a scar nearly a mile wide through Rolling Fork and obliterated virtually everything along U.S. 61, including Chuck's Dairy Bar.

Chuck's is the gathering place for most people in Issaquena County and the place to get a great burger and an amazing super thick chocolate milkshake.

That Friday night, just after 8 p.m., the tornado ripped Chuck's into pieces, leaving nothing but a tattered slab.

In the month's since, owner Tracy Harden has fed as many people as possible out of a food truck, looking forward to the day when Chuck's could be made whole again.

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On this second Friday of September, a new slab was poured in the footprint of the old Chuck's and Harden now looks forward to a day in the not-to-distant future when kids and adults will gather together and hang out and eat.

"It's been really, really hot in there, but we have been serving breakfast and lunch out of the trailer every day," Harden said. "We are making it, and we are doing what we love."

Harden said the new building, which is being fabricated off site, has already started to be delivered in parts.

"We had hope it would be sooner, but as with everything else, six weeks turns into 12 weeks and we just hope things get done when they can get done," Harden said.

She said even when the building is assembled, she doesn't expect that completion will happen until December, at the earliest.

"They have done some dirt work to bring us up to a higher elevation and some plumbing work to get ready for the slab," Harden said. "It is very exciting. We will give the slab a few days to dry and then the building will start going up."

But in the back of her mind, she remembers the night that 13 people were tragically killed when the tornado touched down just outside the Southwest corner of the city limits of Rolling Fork. A few minutes later, the twister exited the city along the Northeast corner of town, leaving a swath of damage unimaginable, even to veteran storm chasers who witnessed the damage.

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Now, many of her former patrons are still homeless, relying on friends and family to help them out while FEMA delivers trailers to replace many of the trailers that were destroyed in the park just behind where Chuck's is located.

"We are getting to see some of the kids that we used to see, but many are having troubles with places to stay," Harden said. "Every trailer that comes in means a family is back at home. I wish that process was going a bit faster or a lot faster really."

Both South Delta High School and Sharkey-Issaquena Academy are back in session, which means there is more of a sense of normalcy, but there is a long way to go.

"It has been wonderful seeing so many of my babies back, but we still have a huge amount of our families displaced, whether that are living in motels or with family and friends or having to travel great distances to get back and forth to school," Harden said. "Those things are hard, very challenging and stressful for the parents as well as the kids. We just need more housing as quickly as possible."

Harvest time

In the meantime, despite the sweltering heat, there is no shortage of folks to feed as farmers and farm hands make their way into town for breakfast and lunch on a regular basis.

"Business is good. I cannot complain at all," said Harden, who is still working with a skeleton crew of six until much of her staff can get relocated in the their homes.

She said they work from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. every day and could go longer, but the recent heat wave across Mississippi has made it very difficult.

"The farmers are working, and we are able to serve them lunch and keep them moving," Harden said. "We are a farm community, and we always pride ourselves on being able to serve them during this harvest time of year. Honestly though, we need to be able to do it more than we are doing. So, we are looking forward to and hoping for weather that is not so hot."

But seeing the truck pull in with walls of the building atop it and the concrete being poured for a new slab marked a new day for her.

"It felt so good to finally feel like I am actually going to get it back," Harden said as she held back tears. "It's been a long time and there is a still a long way to go, but this is a start. Little things."

Now, she hopes all the little things can come together for a new beginning for Chuck's in a few months.

Ross Reily can be reached by email at rreily@gannett.com or 601-573-2952. You can follow him on Twitter @GreenOkra1.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Rolling Fork MS tornado 6 months later: Construction shows recovery