DAWSON SPRINGS, Ky. — Amid the tornado rubble in western Kentucky, it’s been progress for some and waiting for others. The O’Reilly family feels like one of the lucky ones.
What You Need To Know
- An EF-4 tornado hit Dawson Springs on Dec. 10, 2021
- Residents who can are repairing their homes, but timetables vary
- Kevin O’Reilly and his wife feel fortunate their home repairs are moving along steadily
The small town of Dawson Springs took a direct hit from an EF-4 tornado on Dec. 10, 2021. Entire neighborhoods were destroyed, but residents who can are repairing their homes.
That includes Kevin O’Reilly, who said demolition and construction is happening nearly around the clock.
“Every day but Sunday,” O’Reilly said.
It’s been over two months since a massive tornado devastated his small western Kentucky town. On one day, a crew of 10 men worked on siding his home. They repaired his roof more than a week ago.
“All the roof was torn up,” O’Reilly said. “There were big holes in it. You could stick your hand through the holes.”
O'Reilly’s block was spared from the most significant damage. He attributes that to his neighborhood sitting on a large downslope, but traveling a few blocks north, you’ll see homes are destroyed.
O’Reilly has a small basement but said his wife uses a wheelchair, and there wasn’t enough time to get down there before the tornado hit.
“So I ran into the bedroom and I jumped on top of my wife,” he recalled. “And I just hugged her as hard as I could and she said, ‘Well what are we going to do?’”
O’Reilly braced for the worst, and in that moment he was scared. It was one of very few times he’s felt that way.
“I’ve been scared twice in my whole life,” O’Reilly said. “Six years ago, a man told me I had cancer, and it scared me. Then December 10th of last year, that tornado came, and it scared me. I thought I was going to lose my life, my wife, everything we had.”
O’Reilly said he is in remission. And thankfully, they survived uninjured. In terms of his home repairs, he said he received payment from his insurance company rather quickly, which allowed repairs to being sooner than he expected.
Everything may not be finished by the end of February, but O’Reilly said the important things will be.