LaReeca Rucker
The Clarion-Ledger
From the archives April 9, 2008
David Kahlstorf was standing under a tree in his front yard when the tornado approached the Old Canton Hill neighborhood in north Jackson. His wife, Mary, called to him, and he ran inside. Moments later, limbs cracked and a 100-year-old oak fell to the ground.
“It happened so quickly,” he said. “You didn’t have time to think about anything. Everyone says you will hear a roar like a train, and I heard that. By the time we got the windows open, it was over. You just kind of feel dumbfounded. You think about what could have happened.”
As thousands recover from Friday’s tornado destruction, area mental health professionals say it’s important to remember that it takes time to recover both physically and emotionally from traumatic experiences.
Scott Caraway’s homes on Old Canton Hill Road and Winterview both sustained damage from fallen trees, but it’s not the first home lost to a natural disaster. Shortly after selling a beach home in Bay St. Louis, Hurricane Katrina struck, destroying the Creole cottage built in 1851.
“Dealing with that loss was devastating to me, even though I didn’t own it anymore,” he said Tuesday afternoon, while walking his dog, Pete, past yards filled with tree debris. “This can’t compare, but it is pretty devastating up here. I think there is a shock value to the immediate occurrence, but after that, I think people want to start working to clean things up.”
Buddy Wagner, an assistant professor of psychology, heads the Mississippi College Counseling and Testing Center. The Batesville native came to realize the power of tornadoes after seeing the aftermath of tornadoic destruction in Inverness, a town near his parents’ home that was destroyed by a twister in the 1970s. He has also counseled several Katrina survivors.
Wagner said the first emotional recovery step is utilizing a support system of family and friends.
“In psychological circles, we talk about post-traumatic stress disorder,” he said. “It’s certainly a real thing. When someone suffers a traumatic experience, if it’s traumatic enough, it will affect them later in certain situations.”
Wagner said people are affected by storms on many levels.
“While the storm is occurring, you fear for your life,” he said, “and after the storm has ended, you see the destruction to your home or automobile. Then you’re not as afraid for your physical well-being as you are for your future.”
People are also tied to their possessions, an extension of themselves, and the loss or damage of them sometimes causes emotional damage.
Being productive is a good way to begin the recovery process, Wagner said.
“It will help them feel like they are getting back on their feet,” he said. “If they can find activities that are relatively short in duration, this helps them feel like they have some power over their lives.”
Wagner said counseling may or may not be necessary. “If they find that after a reasonable amount of time they are not able to return to normalcy, they may need to seek professional help,” he said, adding that people are generally very resilient.
“Many times, all they need is emotional support and encouragement, and they are able to resume a normal way of being,” he said. “It’s not something they are going to recover from in just a few days. It takes time to heal. So they shouldn’t get impatient with themselves.”
New Mexico native Dr. Scott Coffey is an associate professor of psychiatry and human behavior at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, and one of the areas he studies is the emotional aftermath of large-scale disasters, from the events of 9-11 to Hurricane Katrina.
Coffey said children need time to emotionally recover. Events, like the recent storm, may disturb children’s sleeping patterns or cause them to act out. A disruption in a child’s schedule may also cause problems, but issues are generally temporary.
“I think that children are often concerned about things that seem out of control, that are difficult to predict,” he said. Parents can take steps to help children become less fearful.
“They should offer a consistent message that we are a family, and we’ll take care of each other if something bad happens,” he said. “They should tell them that we have a lot of friends, and if something bad happens, the people in the church, synagogue, or temple will help us, but the likelihood that something will happen is low.”
A neighbor greeted Mary Grace Yarborough on Tuesday afternoon, offering food and a spare room. After 22 years, Yarborough, another Old Canton Hill resident, is packing her belongings. Two 10,000-pound trees fell on her home, and she can’t reside in it while the roof is being repaired, so she’s been living with friends and family.
She recalled the events of Friday, when she returned from the post office, put something on the stove to cook, turned on the television, and heard the newsman say “take cover.”
“I jumped up, ran into the laundry room, and started hearing glass breaking,” she said.
The aftermath has been difficult, but not overwhelming. Yarborough, who has had a kidney transplant and is coping with the return of breast cancer, said she has remained calm through this storm and the others she’s faced. The retired nurse said her former job gave her the skills to do so.
“I think I learned to handle stress pretty well over the years,” she said. “I’m really doing fine overall, but it will be really hard to leave this house for even a little while.”