Sheriff Geoffrey Deibler and dispatchers Meghan Collier (centre) and Bobbie Brown of the Morganfield Police Department arrived in Dawson Springs, Ky., to help search for survivors.
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Sheriff Geoffrey Deibler and dispatchers Meghan Collier (centre) and Bobbie Brown of the Morganfield Police Department arrived in Dawson Springs, Ky., to help search for survivors.
Brian Mann / NPR
Under a cold blue sky, dozens of men and women stood in line on a desolate street in Dawson Springs, Ky., one of the small towns hardest hit by tornado swarm causing the nation’s sub-district competition from Friday night to Saturday night.
Geoffrey Deibler, the sheriff from neighboring Morganfield, volunteered to join one of the search and recovery teams operating across Kentucky on Monday.
“We’re working on it bit by bit,” said Deibler, wearily gesturing toward a clump of overgrown trees and debris as he waited for the signal to begin marching. “If there are pieces of roofing or swimming pools or tin, we’ll pick it up and move it.”
The goal is to find survivors – or recover what’s left of the victims. As of Monday night, the official death toll in this community of 2,600 is 12.
A four-wheeled vehicle sped past and signaled. The searchers began, moving carefully through what had once been a cluster of small houses. They used sticks and heavy leather gloves to move the rubble.
That afternoon, Governor Andy Beshear said 74 people had died and at least 109 were missing statewide.
“We’re hoping someone connects to them and they’re out there and we don’t know where they are. Maybe they don’t have cell service,” the governor said.
Ruins of houses are marked with symbols after they have been searched and cleared of any remains or hazards.
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Ruins of houses are marked with symbols after they have been searched and cleared of any remains or hazards.
Brian Mann / NPR
Meanwhile, teams like this, manned by volunteers and National Guard troops, would go door-to-door, searching fields and forests at the same time.
“It’s something else, isn’t it?” Jason Cox, the leader of this search team, shook his head at the scale of the devastation.
Cox, a deputy fire chief from the nearby town of Sturgis, marched in heavy firefighter gear, working to keep his team evenly spaced. He says this kind of restoration work takes a heavy toll on morale.
“It was extremely difficult,” he said. “We’re all fully trained…so we just do the best we can with what we have.”
With more than 100 people still missing in Kentucky, search and recovery teams are working in devastated areas like this one in Dawson Springs.
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With more than 100 people still missing in Kentucky, search and recovery teams are working in devastated areas like this one in Dawson Springs.
Brian Mann / NPR
The members of this crew have so far not found anyone alive, but they recovered a body during the search the day before.
“We found a gentleman,” said Deibler, who put on his cowboy hat and whispered, “That’s hard.”
As the group moved up a low hill, another searcher knelt down to shine his headlights into the darkness of a collapsed garage.
Bobbie Brown searches with her searchlight in the ruins of a warehouse. Her crew found the body of a man killed in the storm.
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Bobbie Brown searches with her searchlight in the ruins of a warehouse. Her crew found the body of a man killed in the storm.
Brian Mann / NPR
Bobbie Brown, who now works as a police coordinator in Morganfield, said: “I have been a nurse for several years. “Unfortunately, I’ve learned to turn off my brain when faced with situations like this.”
But many of the rescuers here admit that they are vulnerable to the pain and loss of this disaster.
“We have family here too,” said Ryan Linton, a member of the Dawson Springs Volunteer Fire Department. “So people are trying to do with what’s going on.
“Unfortunately, it’s like a movie that doesn’t stop playing.”
