The tornado damage in Kentucky could take decades to repair

AT THE FIRST Baptist Ministries Centre in downtown Mayfield, Kentucky, a huge cross used to be visible through a large window overlooking the crossroads. Now it stands, perilously, in the open air. The entire rest of the front of the building, as well as much of the roof, was torn off by a tornado on the night of December 10th, which flattened a large part of the rest of the town. On December 14th, the congregation were serving coffee and breakfast buns to passers-by out of the shell. “It has been an experience,” said Debbie Fowler, a 68-year-old parishioner whose son is the pastor. “We were so sick at heart to see it, it’s devastating.” But, she says, the town will come back. “It won’t look the same, but the people will be the same. This is a close-knit community,” she says.