DAWSON SPRINGS, Ky. (LEX 18) — The community of Dawson Springs was particularly hard hit during the December 2021 tornado outbreak. There were 19 deaths and nearly 500 homes and buildings destroyed.
Sounds of construction now fill the air as homes are being rebuilt, but the trauma of what happened a year ago is still impacting people every day.
On December 10, storm warnings weren't on Meredith Hyde's mind. Instead, her mind was on decorating for her son Cole's Saturday wedding.
The family went to bed exhausted, until a call from a friend alerted them that a tornado was heading towards their town.
Meredith, her husband, son, and their dog Stella, took shelter in the bathroom with just moments to spare.
"They held the door as hard as they could,” said Hyde. “Stella and I had our heads down and we were praying. We prayed for our community, for the house, for our lives, for our safety and everything."
When the tornado passed, the family discovered catastrophic damage to their home.
“In the kitchen, the ceiling was down and all that was covered. We were in utter shock and disbelief," said Hyde.
But that was nothing compared to the chaos that awaited them outside their once familiar street.
“We could hear screams and cries from the apartment buildings that were over here," said Hyde.
The rush was on to check on neighbors just one house over.
“There was nothing there. They were just standing on steps coming out of their basement," said Hyde.
Those neighbors had survived. Three others in nearby homes did not, along with 16 other people in Dawson Springs.
Meredith's son, Cole, and his fiancée, Lauren, planned to postpone their wedding, but Meredith says a wedding was exactly what they needed.
"This is not how this day is going to end,” said Hyde. “I said, ours is going to end with a new marriage. Knowing we are all still here and blessed to have a wedding. We are going to celebrate tonight."
Despite the chaos of those days following the storm, Meredith and her family moved ahead, building a new home on a nearby lot and moving in just weeks ago.
"We still have moments where we stop and think, how did we make it through,” said Hyde.
Meredith works as a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner.
She told us in the days after the tornado, she felt helpless until she began volunteering to help other storm survivors who were staying 10 miles away at Pennyrile State Park.
She says with the help of the community, she was able to set up a full medical clinic, helping with everything from tetanus boosters to getting people new prescriptions to replace the ones lost in the storm.
