WYNNE, Ark. — Michelle McGill sees empty lots from her porch that a year ago, where covered with debris from homes destroyed by an EF-3 tornado.
"We've lost 22 neighbors. I don't know where half of them are. I don't know if they'll ever come back," she said.
Today, you can still make out its path through Wynne, Arkansas, drawing a line between those properties and the homes still standing.
"We're lucky enough not to lose our base house but we lost everything around it.," McGill said. "Just two blocks over, you can see the little, those wreaths that's where those two people died. Just a house away from where we are. They found them on top of each other trying to shield. The man was trying to shield his girlfriend, so it's a sad situation."
The storm claimed four lives, hitting at the beginning of mayor Jennifer Hobbs' second term. Facing the first natural disaster under her leadership, she sums up how the community feels one year later.
"Resilient — we are making progress. Slower than some would like to see," Hobbs said. "This is the first time I've been through this rebuilding process and I do think that it takes a lot of time."
The tornado ripped from the west side of Wynne to the east side. Houses that were once on these properties are completely cleared, but mayor Hobbs says within the last year, the east side is where they're seeing redevelopment at a faster rate.
"We are seeing a lot of our properties that were rental properties that were hit by the tornado — we're not seeing those being rebuilt as quickly as we're seeing individual homeowners rebuilding their homes," Hobbs said.
"33% of the houses were gone, when you lose that many, so fast in our neighborhood, I don't know if it's going to rebuild as quick," McGill said.
"Everybody that has been through it said it can take 5-6 years before you see full recovery," Hobbs said.
Over the last year, there's been countless recovery efforts, help from volunteers and contractors and a visit from Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
So far, FEMA reimbursed the City of Wynne nearly $4 million for disaster relief. Mayor Hobbs estimates the total dollar-amount of damage, city-wide, easily crosses the $160 million line.
"There's still families out there that need help. That help is only based on donations that come in. We're looking for people that have money, manpower and resources to give to help those families," Hobbs said. "They should know that we're going to battle for them every day. We're looking for grant funding. We're helping push behind the scenes with Wynne Relief and Recovery."
One year later and crews have cleaned up a lot of the damage, but several houses and businesses are still without roofs. Many people are still fighting with insurance companies to rebuild their homes.
With a lot of work done, there's still more to do, but one thing the tornado can't seem to break? The city's spirit.
So the question remains, "Is Wynne still the city with the smile?"
"It is still the city with the smile," Hobbs said.
"I smile every day and I thank god everyday for my community, so yeah I think we are. I feel Wynne strong and we will rebuild," McGill said.