{"id":20286,"date":"2025-04-10T22:15:11","date_gmt":"2025-04-11T04:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/?p=20286"},"modified":"2025-04-10T22:15:11","modified_gmt":"2025-04-11T04:15:11","slug":"harding-students-reflect-on-tornado-devastation-in-their-hometowns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/2025\/04\/10\/harding-students-reflect-on-tornado-devastation-in-their-hometowns\/","title":{"rendered":"Harding students reflect on tornado devastation in their Hometowns"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Written by Julia Jenkins<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A historic and deadly tornado outbreak swept through the Midwest from March 13 to 16, 2025, leaving widespread devastation in its wake. The second-largest March outbreak on record spawned numerous powerful tornadoes across Missouri and Arkansas, including multiple EF3 and EF4 storms that leveled neighborhoods, destroyed homes and claimed lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Searcy was not directly affected, several Harding students from the Midwest experienced the storm\u2019s impact through the devastation faced by their family and friends back home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senior Korban Butler, a Missouri native, was at his social club\u2019s spiritual retreat when he learned that a tornado had torn through his hometown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know anything was going on until 11 o\u2019clock,\u201d Butler said. \u201cWhich, honestly, is probably for the better because it was already hard enough finding out what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although his home remained standing, the tornado inflicted significant damage on his property. Broken windows, uprooted trees, two crushed cars, a destroyed boat and two demolished sheds were just some of the destruction left behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Junior Alex Kowiti, from Bakersfield, Missouri, described how the tornado devastated her community, claiming three lives and flattening homes and buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve never had one that bad before,\u201d Kowiti said. \u201cI mean, we\u2019ve had tornadoes go through, but not any that have done any massive destruction at all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the devastation, Kowiti has seen her town unite in the aftermath. Relief groups, donations, and businesses have stepped in to support those affected, strengthening the sense of community even in the face of tragedy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Junior Kiersten Mahan, whose town was also impacted, echoed similar sentiments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou can tell that people love each other and are there for each other and have each other’s backs through it all,\u201d Mahan said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All three students expressed the difficulty of being away from their families and hometowns during this challenging time. While they want to help, being in school has made it difficult. However, they have found comfort in the overwhelming support from the Harding community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s my favorite thing about Harding,\u201d Mahan said. \u201cEverybody surrounds one another and everybody is there for each other. It\u2019s really awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Butler, one of the most powerful moments in the aftermath of the storm was seeing his church community come together. The Sunday after the tornado, his church still gathered\u2014despite having no power\u2014and more people attended than usual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think it just brings out the good of God in it,\u201d Butler said, \u201cbecause that\u2019s really where you got to keep your focus.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by Julia Jenkins A historic and deadly tornado outbreak swept through the Midwest from March 13 to 16, 2025, leaving widespread devastation in its wake. The second-largest March outbreak…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15086,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[136],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lifestyle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15086"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20286"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20286\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20304,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20286\/revisions\/20304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}