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'Try and rebuild' | Wynne residents pick up the pieces after damaging storms

"We’ve had things like this before," Wynne resident Brad South said. "I have no doubt our community will pull together and help out."

WYNNE, Ark. — There's been severe damage in Wynne, Arkansas — about 50 minutes west of Memphis — after Friday's deadly tornado. Still, residents are picking up the pieces.

"There’s just so much devastation," Brad South, whose home was hit by Friday's tornado, said. "It’s going be a long process."

Wynne residents say they have been through storms before but never a storm that went directly through the heart of their city.  

“We’re alright — we made it to our home. We made it to our home, we were safe," Darryl Calvert, owner of 25-year-old general store Cordial Cottage, said.

Cottage said he left the store about an hour before the storm hit.

"For 25 years we had stayed and weathered the storm and got in the back room if there was one," Calvert said. "This time the storm is about four and about three o'clock, and said I felt we just need to leave this time." 

Their family’s business along with a nearby daycare was destroyed. This is less than half a mile from the district’s only public high school, Wynne High School, which was also destroyed.  

Trees around the campus were completely uprooted, most of the roof was torn to pieces and the main entrance collapsed.  

With a population of nearly 8,300 the mayor of Wynne, Jennifer Hobbs says the extent of the city’s damage is still unknown. 

Still, Charlotte and Darryl say despite this tragedy they, along with their neighbor Brad, plan to remain resilient and rebuild.

"We’ve had things like this before," South said. "I have no doubt our community will pull together and help out."  

Over twenty people have been injured and the coroner confirms there have been multiple deaths.

"We’ve been talking all morning and our plan right now — we believe right now — is to try and rebuild," Calvert said. "Maybe not as big as before — something to get us up and going — but it looks like it may take a year or better." 

Wynne Public Schools also announced that they will be closed from Monday April 3 to Friday April 7. They ask that, for everyone's safety, people remain off campuses with the exception of lunches and dinners that will be provided at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. respectively.

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