'We have to find mom': In one storm-ravaged Tennessee county, families cope as help pours in

Amanda Doles and her family took cover as the tornado hit McNairy County late Friday night.

After it passed with a small amount of damage to their home, Doles and her family rushed outside in the rain and darkness to check on her grandmother, Fay Pickney, 86, who lived alone in a house down the road in Adamsville.

They found her grandmother’s house demolished. Within minutes, more than a dozen people in town were there digging through the debris to help find Pickney.

“My dad wouldn’t come out of the field until they found her,” Doles said. “He kept saying, ‘We have to find mom!’”

McNairy County: Tornado survivors salvage belongings, recall fearful night

The group eventually found Pickeny’s body in the rubble. Doles said her grandmother, known by everyone in town as “Nanny,” had been asleep in her bed when the storm hit. She hopes her grandmother passed in her sleep.

The storms, part of a deadly swell through the middle of the nation, swept through the area Friday night, destroying 72 homes and damaging dozens of others in the small towns of Bethel Springs, Adamsville, and Rose Creek area.

The death toll was seven early Saturday but grew to nine by the evening. Officials have not yet released the names of the victims, but they said four people were in a single home in Rose Creek.

On Saturday, Gov. Bill Lee and Congressman David Kustoff visited the area to survey the damage.

Doles said her mother’s home was also completely demolished, and they’ve barely had time to grieve the loss of her grandmother. While the family is struggling, they've been touched by how the close-knit community has stepped forward.

“People are just amazing,” she said. “They’ll give you the shirt off their backs.”

The morning after the storm hit, Cara Hill, the Adamsville city administrator, said she was flooded with calls from people wanting to donate and help.

Hill switched hats from administrator to disaster coordinator and transformed the town’s small City Hall, which doubles as the fire station, into a donation center.

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All day on Sunday, people were stopping by City Hall to donate or pick up piles of canned food and toiletries.

Hill, who grew up in Adamsville, said the community has truly rallied.

“Honestly, we’re overwhelmed with all the love and support,” she said. “Folks everywhere are rising up and asking what they can do to help.”

Hill said city commissioners have been sweeping debris in people’s driveways, while Boy Scout groups and churches have been out delivering food from local restaurants.

On Sunday, Michael “Moose” Doles, a firefighter with the town’s volunteer fire department of about a dozen people, was filling in as acting chief for Kenny Newell, whose house was destroyed.

He said volunteer firefighters have been working nonstop since the storm hit. Officials have said about half the county suffered some damage.

The town was also damaged in 2019 by powerful straightline headwinds from a hurricane, but nothing like this, he said.

“I’m just at a wow,” he said.

Pastor Chad Ball of the Adamsville First Baptist Church sent his parishioners out with more than a hundred plates of spaghetti to deliver to people after Sunday services. On Saturday, it was burgers and tacos.

Ball said a small-town community like Adamsville truly shines in tough times.

“This is the best our country has to offer,” he said.

Down the road on North Maple Street, Betty and Danny Smith, who have lived here for 52 years, were working to pick up debris from a demolished shed.

The couple’s home was mostly spared, though Betty Smith said the twister’s roar is still echoing in her head.

“It sounded like a freight train,” Danny Smith said.

By Sunday, much of the debris from the Smith’s yard had already been cleared out by people in town.

Across the road, Justina and Jeremy Martin weren’t so lucky. Their home was completely destroyed, though they were safe after taking cover in a walk-in closet with their two young children.

The next morning, Justina Martin was sifting through the rubble when she heard chainsaws. About half a dozen people had come to help clear the mass of fallen pine trees that blocked her driveway.

“I didn’t even know who they were,” she said. “People were working so fast to help. They were just on it.”

After losing her grandmother, Amanda Doles said she was grateful that people helped to find two special items that her grandmother would have wanted to keep in the family.

The first was her late husband’s high school ring, and the second, his U.S. flag from his time in the military.

Doles said the high school football team helped to find her grandfather's ring in the rubble. A group later found his flag.

"It's an honor to her that we were able to find those two things," Doles said. "I know she would have been happy."

Reach Kelly Puente at kpuente@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Tennessee storms: McNairy County families cope as help pours in