Community steps up to help Clark County residents left without after tornado

WHIO Staff
·2 min read

Community rallied Thursday evening to help residents of the Harmony Estates Mobile Home Park, in Clark County, who lost homes, property, food and basic services such as electricity because of Wednesday’s twisters.

“Yeah, my sherbet is now liquid,” Deb Thomas, a resident of the mobile home park in the village of South Charleston, told News Center 7′s Taylor Robertson on Thursday night.

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Roberts was one of the residents forced to spend the night without heat or food, which was left spoiling in refrigerators and freezers.

“I man we have had storms but nothing like this one,” said Thomas, who has lived in the mobile home park for a decade. She recalled hearing a weather alert sound on her cellphone first and 5 a.m. Wednesday, the wind howling next and then . . . zap. . . the power fails.

“We had to go spend the night somewhere else because we had to have the power,” she said.

The predicament Roberts and other Harmony Estates residents were left to deal with was why others in the community stepped in and set up a portable table in the Harmony Estates parking lot.

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Harmony Estates resident BJ Reaver is in charge of maintenance. He spoke about his son’s high school principal, who dropped off some things for the survivors.

“They have got blankets, pillows, snacks, fruit bars, all kinds of stuff,” said Reaver, who since the storm has been busy checking on residents.

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“We do our own water and sewer plants, so I gotta make sure everything is still good, and then once the power kicks on I gotta make sure everything is working,” he said.

Reaver thanked everyone who donated food including applesauce, sausage sticks, pizza, chewy health bars, bread, cakes, dinners from Bob Evans, bottled water, paper plates, napkins and more. Donations came from Brad and Don at Hooten Automotive, school principals, Clark County Sheriff Deb Burchett, Trinity Church and others.

“I mean there’s so many, so many people that we’re thankful for ya’ll,” Reaver said.