'Hopeful days ahead': Gov. Lee visits Covington close to a month after tornado

Nearly a month after after a devastating EF3 tornado hit Covington and Tipton County, leaving one person dead and 28 others injured, Devin Malone, president of Mueller Streamline Co., said that he and others at his company are feeling a "lot more positive" about how things will go moving forward.

"We were fortunate, first and foremost, that nobody was injured, we actually had people in the building when the tornado came through, so we're fortunate from that standpoint," Malone said, "...We've been able to retain all of our employees. We're juggling a lot of balls to try to keep the business together in the interim period while we rebuild. We've set up some operations in Ripley on a temporary basis to manufacture there and we're going to get a new roof on the facility."

Malone was speaking with Gov. Bill Lee and other local business owners and politicians during Lee's Friday first visit to Covington to see how the area has recovered since the March 31 tornado.

More: Covington, Tipton County work to restore power, assess damages after deadly tornado

"Thank you all for your commitment to stay here," Lee said. "It's a hard choice, that can be a difficult business decision but we're really grateful for that. It's part of the hope that you provide for the whole community, they see that happen and, whether or not a person works there, when they see that happen to the people in their community, it reminds them that there are hopeful days ahead."

The meeting was held at the Covington Division of the H.T. Hackney Co., a wholesale grocery distribution firm headquartered in Knoxville. John Barry, a general manager for H.T. Hackney, said the second-shift workers work Sunday through Thursday and were off Friday. If the storm hit any other day, the entire second shift would have been in the center that was hit, he added. In the aftermath of the storm, Barry said employees have all stepped up to help.

"We've been able to keep every single one of our employees," Barry said. "Which I know everyone has been trying to do in the area. We've got product coming out of multiple different warehouses and shipment out of multiple different warehouses, so it's been tough but it's been good to see everyone come together."

Coming together was "just something we did," Covington Mayor Jan Hensley said at the meeting with Gov. Lee. The area is in a cleanup phase and, already, 75,000 cubic yards of debris have already been hauled to the dump, Hensley said.

"We're still in that tear-down, clean-up phase but when you sit at a table with people like this you know they're committed and we'll rebuild and just keep moving forward," Hensley said.

Crestview Elementary and Crestview Middle School were left unable to hold classes for the remainder of the school year due to damage and Ford’s BlueOval City, along with Walbridge, Sunbelt Rentals, United Rentals, Phillips & Jordan, Ideal Contracting and ArchKey, have partnered with Tipton County Schools to provide those two structures to serve students and staff at no cost to the district for the remainder of the 2022-23 school year.

"There's been a temporary facility that's been put up here in Covington for those kids because they've got to finish the school year but its going to be two years before we can get those schools built," Jeff Huffman, the Tipton County mayor, said. "Ford Motor Company has put in $500,000 to help with that temporary structure over there and Walbridge...they're helping with that as well. So, we really appreciate the corporate folks, the new neighbors, to our east."

Mike Moore, owner of Buckaroo Hatters, a custom hat shop in the historic Covington square, had noticed Ford's BlueOval City partnering with Tipton County schools to provide those structures.

"Because they aren't that far where they are building that big plant up at and they know partnership with the county is long term so I guess they wanted to show there good faith," Moore said earlier Friday.

The Buckaroo Hatters store in the Covington square was undamaged, but Moore still lost quite a bit of his inventory in the storm.

"Didn't affect here, but off-site, down on Muller-Brass road at the Mini-Storage place, my mobile-hat trailer that goes to big events had stuff in it, (the tornado) destroyed it," Moore said. "Looks like it was packed full of dynamite."

Moore said he has lost a "mind-boggling amount of stuff," and is working with his insurance company.

Janet Smith, an acquisition coordinator, with Mini Mall Storage, said that for the most part, people who had storage units that were damaged had insurance and were able to file claims.

"It was a dark day for the state," Lee said. "A lot of pain, a lot of loss. Certainly in this community but you all are part of the hopeful process. So we are fortunate that we didn't lose more lives, given the devastation."

Gina Butkovich covers DeSoto County, storytelling and general news. She can be reached at 901/232-6714.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee visits Covington nearly a month after tornado