Photo Courtesy of Salo Disaster Relief Fund: Dr. Edward Salo’s house was destroyed by the March 28 tornado. Salo is an assistant professor of history at A-State. 

By: Tristan Bennett

As Jonesboro still reels in the aftermath of the tornado, a few in the A-State community try to pick up the pieces.

On March 28, an EF-3 tornado ripped through the city of Jonesboro. While only on the ground for a total of 16 minutes, it destroyed several businesses, including the Mall at Turtle Creek, Cheddar’s and Gateway Tire. The storm resulted in no deaths, but injured 22 people and damaged or destroyed 450 homes. Several members of the A-State community were impacted.

Jerrod Lockhart, student development specialist, was at home on a conference call when the warnings went out. 

“It was honestly a time that I will never forget. One of the individuals that I was on the conference call with — her husband is a police officer — he came into where she was, and she stated, ‘he said we need to hang up now and get into our safe shelters now.’ We immediately got off the call and I called for my family,” Lockhart said.

Even though the Lockhart family did not have a proper shelter in their home, they took cover in a bedroom closet and sustained no injuries. While their house took some damage, it was not destroyed.

To Hiroki Matsuo, a graduate student in the Department of Psychology and Counseling, the tornado came as a shock when it tore through his home.

“Usually they’ll say we have a tornado alert, and then it just becomes a thunderstorm,” Matsuo said. “That’s all I was expecting.”

Surprise or not, the tornado ripped through several Jonesboro neighborhoods, leaving a trail of destruction and taking away the little sense of security residents had left in these unprecedented times, as Lockhart said.

Edward Salo, assistant professor of history, and his wife Jennifer, an A-State staff member, lost their home to the storm. While their family is safe, they lost valuables that cannot be replaced.

“My dad had collected Santas and after he passed away, my mom had given all of us one of his Santas,” Salo said. “We don’t even know where a lot of that Christmas stuff was. We couldn’t even find the remains.”

With so much ripped from them in short time, these members of the A-State community still manage to look on the bright side. Manu Bhandari, assistant professor of strategic communications, said he is focusing on the positive.

“So, the house is gone, and my car was also severely damaged–both were totaled–, but the point is there are more things to be happy about, I guess,” Bhandari said. “It didn’t take any lives, and that’s the biggest thing we cannot lose sight of.”

The university has also done all it can to help ease the pain caused by the tornado. The governor authorized emergency leave for all employees affected, and faculty and staff have even gone as far as offering their own homes to their affected colleagues and students. Salo and Bhandari both received financial help from the Faculty Senate, and Lockhart received help from the Staff Senate. As for Matsuo, the university allowed him to move into on-campus housing for the meantime.

Matsuo said, “If I didn’t have the connection with the A-State community, I don’t even know how I would have come to this point where I’m still functioning, I have a place to live and I don’t have to be scared about what I’m going to do tomorrow.”

Salo said the support he has received from his colleagues can only be matched by the support from his students.

“I was so amazed at how many students just emailed me when they heard about it and said ‘hey how can I help or what do you need, I can be there,’” Salo said.

Cleanup around the city continues as victims tries to piece together what is left and make decisions on what to do next. Many are still waiting to hear from their insurance before they decide whether to move or rebuild. They all said for now they are looking on the bright side and relying on support from the A-State community during these especially difficult times.

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