WYNNE, Ark. — It's the beginning of a long road to recovery for Wynne, Arkansas.
On March 31, an EF-3 tornado killed four people, injured 26 others and tore through hundreds of homes, businesses and major pillars of the city.
One week later, Mayor Jennifer Hobbs is in the beginning of a lengthy rebuilding process after the city's first natural disaster under her leadership.
"Every time I drive through town, it kind of takes my breath when I hit the tornado zone — just to think back — our city is never going to look the same," Hobbs said.
Hours before the storm hit Wynne, students were dismissed early and city employees went home early.
Hobbs got in her truck, parked just south of town, tracked reports and watched the tornado disaster rip through the town she's lived in since she was 18-years-old.
"I felt like I was drowning, and I was like there are huge decisions that need to be made," Hobbs said. "We actually had a real close connection to one of the state police officers that leads a S.W.A.T. team, and we actually surrendered command to him, and he had a calm head and was able to take that over and send crews out."
Search and rescue efforts carried on through the night into the next morning when Hobbs got a birds-eye view of the damage from a helicopter.
"It really started on the western side of our city limits where our waste water treatment facility is, which is a total loss, and so we just went there and flew the path all the way to the ridge and back, so it was overwhelming," Hobbs said.
When asked if she knew the dollar amount of damage in Wynne, she responded, "That is in the millions — I mean I don't even want to try to ballpark it. It's overwhelming. I have a meeting next week, and I hope to get more information about that."
That meeting may have to do with using federal relief money after Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders declared a state of emergency, supported by President Joe Biden.
"President Biden called me on Saturday morning, so I was able to speak with him in person, over the phone," Hobbs said, "The Governor did come and I was able to walk with her, and we went to the schools, to some of our hard hit areas, and we went by the donation center that we have set up. At that time, she was here on Sunday, and we didn't have the cleanup process hardly up and running so she saw how devastating it was."
In Wynne, four people died and 26 others were injured from the tornado that went on a 73 mile rampage with wind speeds reaching 150 mph. Almost an hour and a half later, it eventually ended in Tipton County.
"Four is four too many, but when you see the sheer destruction, especially when you go deep into the neighborhoods that were hardest hit and most impacted, I don't see how we escaped even more injuries and deaths that we had," Hobbs said.
A week later, several hundred residents are still without power. About 300 utility workers are out on Wynne's streets day in and day out to restore it along with crews cleaning up debris.
"I don't think there's anything else we could've done," Hobbs said. "I don't think we could've been any more prepared. I wished our community had had the resources to build some sort of storm shelter. We don't have anything like that in our community, and if the resources were there that is the one thing I would add."
Disaster relief efforts are pouring in, and Hobbs is grateful for all the help as she looks at the lengthy rebuilding process ahead.
"When you hear a neighbor in need, you go to the need, and that's just how we roll here in Arkansas," Hobbs said.
Mayor Hobbs didn't have a specific timeframe on how long the rebuilding process will take. She did estimate that the high school alone would take about two years to rebuild.