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'Everything was gone': How Vilonia and Mayflower recovered after devastating 2014 tornado

Two communities were forever changed after a deadly EF4 tornado stormed 150 miles, but now the towns are building themselves back up.

On April 27, 2014, two communities were forever changed after a deadly EF4 tornado stormed 150 miles, destroying nearly everything in its path. 

Now nearly five years later, Vilonia and Mayflower have built themselves up again. We revisited both communities and spoke with local leader to find out where they are now.

In 2014, 16 lives were lost. Streets, neighborhoods, a new school and an estimated 3,000 homes and businesses were destroyed in Vilonia.

"It really looked like a bomb went off," said Vilonia Fire Chief Keith Hillman. “Things were not where they were supposed to be."

Vilonia Mayor Preston Scroggin lost his entire farm and home.

"When I arrived here at this farm we're at right now, everything was gone. It was nothing but slabs and we had a lot of wondering livestock. We had probably 100 head [of cattle] that were dead that evening," Scroggin said.

Over the last five years, Scroggin and Hillman have watched their community build itself back up.

"Our new food store, our new Harps store, and I could go on and on about what I’ve seen. People just put their shoulder to the grindstone and went to work and I think we’ve got a better place for it," Scroggin said.

The school was rebuilt and open in about a year, a new shopping center opened in 2017 and another shopping center is under construction now.

"We’ve had growth, we've had a lot of growth," Scroggin said.

Most homes were rebuilt and some are under construction now.

"People stayed, this was home," Scroggin said.

Now, they're prepared for the worst with four public safe rooms and tornado shelters are now installed in most homes. Hillman estimates about 90 percent of houses being built now include below ground or standup safe rooms.

“Some people moved out of the community, but most people stayed, really they did," Hillman said.

It's a similar story in Mayflower. Randy Holland has been the mayor for 14 years and remembers that one night in April.

“Everything went black and it felt like you’d been hit by a bomb," Holland said. “We set up a command center here at city hall and we started from there."

"Damage reports started to come in and there were reports that this place was completely gone. That was the first report that I got," said Nealy Wells, CFO at Lumber 1 in Mayflower.

Wells saw some damage at Lumber 1, with her business across the street destroyed.

"It was completely leveled. Thank goodness this was on a Sunday because our people would have been here. They would have been at work that day," Wells said.

With blown out doors and damage, the Lumber 1 still survived the storm, becoming a saving grace to the community.

"We were open the next day, as you can imagine everyone needs what we sell in an event like this," Wells said.

The community has learned from the storm; now equipped with four community safe rooms. One of them is being installed in the new community center that will also house the police station, which is set to open in April

"We can have everything from city council planning, but we can have events in there, actual events," Holland said.

City Hall has a new command center they use in emergencies. Over the last five years, most destroyed businesses rebuilt and nearly 10 new businesses opened.

"We’re getting more people today than I’ve seen in a long, long time moving into Mayflower," Holland said.

A new overpass project is in the works for the town.

“They’re already looking at economic development like hotels, that kind of stuff," Holland said.

While they're ready to weather any storm, they're hoping for a new story.

"The whole town is ready for the turn over, the turning of the page I’d call it," Holland said.

It’s a story of destruction, turning into a story of two communities writing a new chapter of progress and resilience.

“I think this community still feels a sense of togetherness as you do when you go through something with a group of people," Wells said.

“We're back,” Hillman said. “We're back as strong as we ever was, we're actually bigger than we ever was."

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