Bearden: Three Months On: The Rolling Fork Tornado
On update on a small town after a devastating storm
More than a million cubic yards of rubble have been hauled away from what remains of Rolling Fork. The town in Mississippi’s South Delta was decimated by a tornado on the evening of March 24. (Willy Bearden/Special to The Daily Memphian)
Willy Bearden
Willy Bearden is a filmmaker, photographer, author and producer. His documentary films include Visualizing the Blues, The Story of Cotton, A History of Memphis Garage Bands, Overton Park, Elmwood Cemetery and many others.
“What is emerging in Rolling Fork is a story of both optimism and uncertainty. Can this community, which was already struggling, come back?”
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“I’m from Rolling Fork, Mississippi, in what I like to call the Deep Delta. It is the place that made me. It is the place that gave me the confidence to do all the things I’ve dreamed of and accomplished.”
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“As bad as it was last Saturday morning, it’s bound to get worse for my hometown. Nothing is working the way it should ... And it was already a town in the vice grip of extreme poverty.”Related stories:
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