Jessie Cash at her home in South Portland. Cash’s family home was destroyed by a tornado in Rolling Forks, Miss., last month. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer
As South Portland resident Jessie Cash traveled north to Mount Desert Island on March 24, 11 people were hunkered down in two bathrooms at the Cash family homestead in Rolling Fork, Mississippi, 1,500 miles away.
A powerful, EF-4 tornado was bearing down on the town. Bathrooms are among the safest spots to shelter when tornado warnings are issued, and the five-bedroom home had a brick foundation that offered additional protection.
But the winds were too strong. EF-4 tornadoes have winds gusting 166-200 mph, according to the National Weather Service.
The aftermath of a tornado destroying the Cash family homestead in Rolling Fork, Miss., on March 24. Photo courtesy of the Cash family
“As soon as we got in there, we heard the roof coming off,” said Roshonda Kenny, Cash’s great niece.
“I remember looking up and I saw the sky. I said, ‘Oh my Lord. Lord protect us,’ ” Kenny said. “I told everyone to keep saying it, ‘Lord protect us’ throughout this whole storm.”
Cash, who grew up in the Rolling Fork home, would not know for several hours about the devastation taking place.
“My sister called me with the news,” said Cash. Family in Mississippi had called her sister in Massachusetts, who then called Cash that evening to let her know what had happened. “I was in total shock, just blown away by the news. We’re really happy and blessed that everyone is alive, but it’s so devastating.”
The house was destroyed – a flattened vehicle sat atop the wreckage after the storm had passed. Miraculously, everyone escaped with minor or no injuries except for Roshonda Kenny’s 8-year-old son Jeremy, who suffered a traumatic brain injury, a concussion and a stroke.
Jeremy Kenny, 8, was injured in the tornado that leveled his family’s home in Rolling Fork. He was treated at University of Mississippi Medical Center but has since been released and is undergoing rehabilitation. Photo courtesy of the Cash family
Kenny said a group of storm chasers happened to be nearby, heard the family calling for help, and broke down a bathroom door to get to them. They carried Jeremy to a nearby ambulance, which took him to University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson.
He has since been released from the hospital, his mother said, and doctors expect that he will make at least close to a full recovery. Jeremy currently has limited mobility, has lost vision in his right eye, and has difficulty speaking.
“He is going to therapy. He’s going to recover. It’s just going to take time and a lot of patience,” said Kenny, who escaped the tornado with some abrasions and bruising to her face.
The tornado flattened much of Rolling Fork, including a water tower, leaving at least 26 dead and dozens injured, according to news reports.
Cash has organized an online fundraiser to help pay to rebuild the home – two families and six of Cash’s relatives lived there – and to rebuild their lives. The fundraiser on gofundme.com had raised nearly $25,000 as of Monday afternoon.
“They are starting from scratch,” Cash said. “There’s so much to do it’s hard for them to know where to start.”
The aftermath of a tornado destroying the Cash family homestead in Rolling Fork, Mississippi, on March 24. Photo courtesy of the Cash family
Cash, 72, moved to New England about 40 years ago and has lived in South Portland for 26 years. Now retired, Cash was an X-ray technician and is married with one adult child. Despite moving to New England decades ago, Cash maintains strong family ties to Mississippi, visiting the brick home where she grew up as often as three or four times per year.
The tornado reduced decades of family memorabilia and possessions to rubble within moments of striking Rolling Fork.
“In the quiet moments in the evening at home I tear up about it,” Cash said. “It’s hard. It was the house where we had all the family reunions.”
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