1 year after the deadly Sussex County tornado

It’s now been a full year since local communities in Sussex County were shaken by a powerful tornado. Monday marks the one year anniversary of a historic EF-3 tornado that touched down in Sussex county. The storm ripped from Bridgeville to Greenwood and beyond, destroying homes and claiming the life of Daniel Bawel, the first tornado death in Delaware since the 1980s.

A year later, some residents are still trying to heal. Greenwood resident Glenn Birmingham told 47ABC about how he’s struggled in the aftermath of the disaster.

“It’s almost kind of like he’s in this in-between where he doesn’t have the money to pay for services, like an attorney, but he also doesn’t qualify to get a free one,” said Sara Carter, who has been an advocate for Birmingham through United Way of Delaware. She said that the past year has been an uphill battle, starting with the tornado itself, but continuing ever since Birmingham received a $16,000 bill for work that he thought was being done by volunteers: “We’ve been doing everything we can since the tornado came through to try to get his needs met. But he’s just been through a lot.”

Pastor John David Swartzentruber says experiencing a disaster like this in your own backyard can be tough to wrap your head around: “Initially there’s this shock, like, there’s a bit of disbelief. We don’t have tornados come through our community every day, then you hear it’s someone in our church, and someone lost their life.” The man who lost his life in the tornado, Daniel Bawel, was a member of Pastor Swartzentruber’s church. Bawel’s wife, Connie, survived the ordeal but lost everything in the wreckage. Just recently, the community had a housewarming party for her newly built home.

To Swartzentruber, this past year has been all about the kindness of friends and strangers alike—coming together to support those who’ve been affected: “There’s little things people do that—it’s not like there’s a script for it. It’s out of the kindness of your heart that people just do…there were people there I didn’t know. Just a whole group of people across the field picking up debris, and it just reminded me of the kindness of people wanting to coming together.”