COVINGTON, Tenn. — Nearly two weeks after a large and extremely dangerous tornado caused significant damage to the town of Covington, Tennessee, its effects are still being felt in the form of nearly 200 factory workers now without a job due to storm damage.
The Delfield Company, which manufactures commercial kitchen equipment at a plant in Covington, announced they are closing their facility after significant damage caused by the tornado.
The company sent a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, or WARN, notice to the state on April 6, notifying Tennessee's Department of Labor and Workforce Development they are closing the facility and laying off 197 workers from the damage.
"[As] a direct result of a storm and what are believed to be one or more tornados, our facility is damaged to the extent that we cannot continue operations at this time," Delfield said in their WARN notice.
In a press release on their social media sites, Delfield said a second distribution facility in Covington is unharmed, and they would release additional information to vendors and stakeholders at a later date.
One person died and 28 more were injured in Covington from the tornado on March 31.
It caused widespread damage to the south side of town, including Crestview Elementary and Middle Schools.
Before it hit Covington, the same storm produced a large and extremely dangerous tornado which hit Wynne, Arkansas, killing four and causing catastrophic damage to Wynne High School.
A second storm that night later hit communities in McNairy County, Tennessee, producing two separate significant tornadoes which killed nine people.