Wynne, Arkansas, devastated by deadly storm: 'We’re just worried about a lot of people'

Omer Yusuf, Memphis Commercial Appeal
·5 min read
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Wynne High School — apart from a sign identifying the school on its street — looked unrecognizable one day after a likely tornado destroyed much of the building and the small Eastern Arkansas town where it resides.

People were walking around what was left of the school Saturday morning — located about 50 miles from Memphis — to find one of the linchpins of its community with a shredded roof, blown-out windows and debris scattered throughout the area. Caution tape was being put on Wynne High School as the school has been deemed a safety hazard.

There were also shreds of newspaper clippings and the school's torn-up welcome mat among the debris at Wynne High. Those around could see the inside of office buildings and classrooms where high school students were learning five days a week until the unexpected occurred.

Wynne High School Assistant Principal Mark Griffin stood in front of the school Saturday, grateful for the district’s decision to dismiss students early Friday. The lifelong Arkansas resident loaded up his family truck and left Wynne before the tornado arrived but could not believe what he witnessed when he returned.

“Coming back into town, seeing the devastation especially of our residential community back through here across Falls Boulevard,” Griffin said. “I’ve never seen anything like this in my whole lifetime in Arkansas … it’s hard to see and it’s hard to know because we don’t have a lot of communication with people. Cell service is sketchy, so we’re just worried about a lot of people and all we can do is do what we can do for right now and try to start getting things back in order and safe for people to walk around.”

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Possibly dozens of tornadoes touched down into the night in at least seven states. The dead included nine in McNairy County, Tennessee, four in Wynne and three in Sullivan, Indiana. Other deaths were reported in Alabama, Illinois, Mississippi and the Little Rock area. Tens of thousands lost power because of the sprawling storm system that also brought wildfires to the southern Plains and blizzard conditions to the Upper Midwest.

Confirmed or suspected tornadoes in at least seven states destroyed homes and businesses, splintered trees, and lay waste to neighborhoods across a swath of the country home to some 85 million people.

NWS Memphis planned to send out three survey crews Saturday to investigate storm damage in east Arkansas and West Tennessee, including in Wynne. Until they visit, a tornado will not be officially confirmed.

A likely tornado caused significant damage to Wynne High School in Wynne, Arkansas, on March 31, 2023. Windows were busted and classrooms were rearranged by the wind.
A likely tornado caused significant damage to Wynne High School in Wynne, Arkansas, on March 31, 2023. Windows were busted and classrooms were rearranged by the wind.

Many businesses in Wynne were closed Saturday due to a lack of power, several streetlights being out also led to increased traffic in areas most impacted by the tornado. Numerous people could be seen walking throughout the streets as they faced their new, uncertain reality in the town of about 8,300 people.

Nearby, Wynne-based Antioch Baptist Church passed out food and water to residents as a small way of making the day after a little easier. Across the street from where Antioch held its food giveaway Kernodle Funeral Home, which has been in town since 1915 according to its sign, had an uprooted tree in front of its location on East Union Avenue. A not too uncommon theme given the many broken tree branches and powerlines scattered throughout Wynne.

Antioch Baptist Church Pastor Jonathan Keeling was in Mississippi officiating a wedding, but got numerous calls of what took place and on his way back into town started putting this event together.

Church members were up as early as 5:30 a.m. grilling sausage biscuits and other breakfast items throughout the day offerings included hot dogs, hamburgers, chips and water.

Antioch Baptist church members pass out food and water to community members who have lost their homes in the store Tornados caused damaged to in Wynne, Arkansas on March 31, 2023.
Antioch Baptist church members pass out food and water to community members who have lost their homes in the store Tornados caused damaged to in Wynne, Arkansas on March 31, 2023.

Keeling spent most of Saturday morning delivering food to those who could not make there way out to the tent.

“You don’t know what words to tell them because most people have lost everything that they have,” Keeling said. “We’re just trying to help the community.”

Ladonna Whiteside, 40, was one of those lifelong residents whose home on Elf Street suffered significant damage due to the likely tornado.

“I’m still trying to process it, because as long as I’ve been living … we ain’t never seen this happen,” said Whiteside, who stopped by Antioch's tent to pick up some food. “We’ve never experienced this much damage and stuff like (that). I don’t even know what they’re gonna do about Wynne.”

Whiteside is grateful she and her son walked out of the storm alive.

“We can replace that (materialistic things),” she said. “As long as we walked out with our lives and stuff, we’re good.”

A likely tornado caused damaged to First United Methodist Church in Wynne, Arkansas, on March 31, 2023. Windows were busted and debris covered the front lawn.
A likely tornado caused damaged to First United Methodist Church in Wynne, Arkansas, on March 31, 2023. Windows were busted and debris covered the front lawn.

Matt McMaster’s home was also impacted by the severe weather Friday. The 52-year-old remembered a tornado in Wynne from a few years ago but that did not compare to what he witnessed Friday and Saturday.

The 30-year Wynne resident was with his neighbors at Jordan’s Kwik Stop with at South Falls Boulevard on Saturday already thinking of ways to help his neighbors even more so than himself in the coming days.

“Everybody needs to pull together and make things work even if it’s not yours try to help people out,” McMaster said. “That’s the main thing.”

That’s also the effort that will be needed to help rebuild Wynne High School and areas most impacted by the tornado. Griffin said the district was able to pull out most of the vital records from Wynne High, before closing it off for the immediate future to determine the full extent of the damage.

There’s also the reality of trying to figure out where students will finish the 2022-23 school year as one of the challenges ahead for the community.

“I have full faith that they will make great decisions on that and we will be able to educate our students to the absolute best of our ability,” Griffin said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Omer Yusuf covers the Ford project in Haywood County, FedEx, tourism and banking for The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached via email Omer.Yusuf@commercialappeal.com or followed on Twitter @OmerAYusuf.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Tornado damage Arkansas: Storm hits Wynne homes, high school, 4 dead