5/21/2023 0 Comments Sunshine manor jonesboro![]() Ford had run into the parking lot of the nursing home to find England sitting outside, bundled up "like a bunny rabbit." "You're here," Ford said her mother noted in greeting her. When Ford arrived from Jonesboro to get her, England seemed surprised to see her, Ford said. Ford said her mother, Violet England, 85, who has dementia, was not injured. "I never dreamed this tree would go down," said Paula Ford of Jonesboro as she and her husband, Ronnie, gathered her mother's belongings from the nursing home. "Obviously, it was a Friday night and hard to deal with, but everybody came together," he said. A few had to be hospitalized briefly, Sampson said. Sampson, who owns one other nursing home, said almost all of the residents who were not hospitalized had been placed at other facilities - a few at his other nursing home and the rest at area nursing homes. "The only way it could have gotten there was to go over the building." "That cargo van was parked out back," Sampson said. In a small copse of trees near the street in front of the nursing home, a large cargo van had smashed down on top of the trees, breaking what branches the wind had spared. Near the rear entrance of the building lay a toolbox that appeared to have been ripped from the bed of a pickup sitting next to the sidewalk. About a dozen cars were scattered about the parking lot, windows smashed, one with a steel beam hurled through its roof.Ī couple of large, roof-mounted HVAC units were scattered in the parking lot along with wheelchairs - some of which blew out of the building, others of which were abandoned as residents were brought out and placed into vehicles. Outside the main entrance, a bedraggled Christmas wreath still hung on the facade. ![]() The roof was ripped away, and insulation, acoustic tiles, furnishings and Christmas decorations littered the interior. The devastation was in stark contrast to the blue sky, sunshine, cool fall temperatures and gentle breeze that blew across the landscape.Ī huge oak tree had smashed into the rear of the nursing home. ![]() The scene on Sunday had a surreal atmosphere as a few people dropped by the nursing home to retrieve loved ones' belongings. "We had tremendous support from all the fire departments, the local people, the state police, everyone," he said. Sampson described the scene Friday night as chaotic, but he said the nursing home was blessed with both emergency responders on the scene and civilian volunteers trying to help out. "But we are so fortunate we were able to get everyone else out." "No, it doesn't feel like a miracle," he said. Although the low number of fatalities in Arkansas is being called miraculous by some, Sampson looked over the damage and mourned over what the residents - whom he described as being like family - had suffered. One person died at the nursing home, and another person was killed at a store in nearby Leachville. Those were the words Sunday of Rick Sampson, the owner of Monette Manor Nursing Home in Monette, as he surveyed the wreckage of his 67-bed facility that was destroyed Friday night at the front end of what the National Weather Service says may be the longest-track tornado in American history.
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