SHERWOOD, Ark. — It's severe weather season here in Arkansas and it has now been almost one year since a powerful EF-3 tornado ripped through the state on March 31, 2023.
Sherwood took a direct hit that day and lots of neighbors there have still been working to recover after the tornado damaged their homes last year.
Gwen Johnson is one homeowner who is still waiting to move back into her house.
"We're almost to March 31, 2024. My family still does not have a house. My family still has to find someplace to live," Johnson described.
We were there last year when the tornado tore up her home in Sherwood.
Almost a year later, there has been some progress, but it has taken a lot longer than she expected.
She's currently living in Jacksonville as she waits for construction to finish.
"My house is still not done, for whatever reason that everybody says there's a reason for it not being completed. My family and I will be back without a home, [on the] first of April," Johnson described.
She said with help from the community and her contractor, she's been able to pay rent each month, but time is ticking to cover the month of April.
"My family lives with me. That's my family. That's my strength. And I'm letting them down. Because they're like, Okay, ma, Where are we going? What are we doing? Because I'm the matriarch of the family and I don't have any answers to give them," she said.
She has experienced one storm after another and said her current house flooded a couple of weeks ago during a big rainstorm.
"I'm just really unhappy," she added.
She's hoping for no more holdups and to have her old house move-in ready soon.
"This house was built in the year I was born in 1959. That was special to me. So that's why I want to come back here," she explained.
Another reason is her neighbors.
"They watched this house since the tornado, I get a text saying hey, somebody's at your house or hey, the doors open. I have great neighbors," she said.
They'll be there when move-in day does come.
As the anniversary of the tornado arrives this weekend, we invite you to join us for a look back at that harrowing day. "March 31: A Tornado Emergency" airs on Sunday morning at 10:30 a.m. and then again on Monday in place of 6:30 Central on THV11.
If you'd like to help the Johnson family, you can email gwendolynjohnson71@yahoo.com.