Officials continue to assess storm damage
Officials from Vernon County, the Small Business Association, the State Emergency Management Agency and the Federal Emergency Management Agency toured the areas devastated by Sunday tornadoes in Vernon County on Thursday.
Vernon County Assessor Cherie Roberts said the purpose was to begin to place a value on the structures and other property lost.
"This hasn't been declared a disaster area yet," Roberts said, but some have lost literally everything, and utilities, fencing and other damages must be tallied in addition to the value of homes and personal property.
Some people asked not to be photographed, saying they've been photographed enough already by curious passers-by.
One property owner's mobile home, with attached carport and addition, as well as several outbuildings, was completely obliterated. Roberts said Dorothy Cross was in bed when the tornado ripped her home from around her. All that's left of her home, now is the front wall and piles and piles of mostly unidentifiable debris.
At the Dennis Campbell farm, the pole barn over farm equipment was swept away, leaving the farm equipment inside sitting in the same place but uncovered. At another farm, the middle of a grain storage barn was ripped away, leaving the two sides still standing, although not really intact.
"These people have been through a lot. Some of them more than you know," Roberts said.