How The Courier Journal reported on the Mayfield tornado anniversary

She texted around 7:15 a.m. on Christmas Day, apologizing for the early message on a holiday.

But u did say I could talk anytime if I needed to. So I’m just going to ramble a few things that are bothering me atm.

Ten days earlier, Sheila Weisenberger, the author of that text, contacted me after reading a story my colleagues and I wrote in the aftermath of the Dec. 10, 2021, tornadoes that tore through Western Kentucky. In it, we interviewed about a half-dozen Mayfield Consumer Products employees to recreate the last hours before the candle factory was destroyed by a massive twister, burying more than 100 people under piles of rubble.

Nine people were killed. Dozens more were injured.

Sheila was one of those injured employees. In her first message, she told me about being pinned between the toilet and the bathroom wall, about screaming for help and the man who reached into the smashed and splintered remains of the factory to touch her hand and stay with her until more help arrived.

Her Christmas message explained how anxious she felt all day, and how she’d been unable to control her emotions.

Take for instance the fact I’ve had earplugs in for hours because the wind has been blowing to hard and the sound it’s making caused me to start crying and have a panic attack.

Reading Sheila’s message, I was struck by the realization that the trauma she and her colleagues suffered that night was going to stay with them long after the debris had been cleaned up.

And that was a story I thought needed to be told: One year in the lives of three people who were inside that candle factory that night and their long, arduous recovery after the deadliest tornado in Kentucky history.

A lot of money and donations and volunteers poured into Western Kentucky in the days and weeks after tornadoes tore through multiple counties, killing at least 80 Kentuckians. But what would happen when that aid stopped coming, as was bound to happen at some point? Where would that leave Sheila and the other survivors of the candle factory’s destruction? How would they piece their lives back together after surviving something so horrible? What could their stories teach us about how we respond to the next natural or human-made disaster?

Sheila and I reconnected in May. And I eventually reached two other survivors, Chelsea Logue and Megan Crawford, both of whom I initially interviewed days after the tornado. Joined by Courier Journal photographer/videographer Jeff Faughender, I made repeated trips to see them in the summer and fall.

All total, I conducted nearly 30 interviews with Sheila, Chelsea and Megan.

Weaving their stories into one narrative, we learn the harrowing details of the night they were trapped under the factory rubble and their eventual rescue. We see how they’ve coped with physical injuries and deeper mental and emotional wounds that have festered in unpredictable ways, and how their attempts to mend those wounds have been, at times, hindered by the very social safety nets designed to speed the recovery process.

Past coverage: Kentucky tornado death toll: 80 people have been confirmed dead after storms by officials

They each had their reasons for agreeing to be part of this series, knowing they were being asked to recount the painful details of that night, to reopen unhealed wounds and share their struggles with a stranger who would, in turn, share them with the public.

In all the interviews, it was clear they recognized a certain catharsis in being heard, and that their stories could let other survivors — of the December tornadoes, or the flash floods in Eastern Kentucky, or any other disaster — know they're not alone.

There was another reason, one Chelsea succinctly described to me in July, sitting outside her apartment: "I just talk for the people who can't. The people that passed away."

Jonathan Bullington is an investigative reporter. Reach him at: 502-582-4241; JBullington@courierjournal.com; Twitter: @jrbullington. 

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: How the Courier Journal reported on the Mayfield tornado anniversary