Marietta: One year after April's tornado

MARIETTA, Okla. (KFOR) — On April 27, 2024, destructive tornadoes ravaged South Central Oklahoma. Marietta was directly hit and is making slow, but good progress a year later.

The aftermath of the tornado was devastating for the city.

"You hear stuff going on, but you almost don't believe it until you go drive out yourself and see it," said Scott Chaney, Marietta City Administrator.

365 days later and the town is still feeling the effects.

The Dollar Tree distribution center was easily recognizable from the interstate, but last April's tornado, demolished it.

"It's been it's been a rough year, you know, and hopefully it gets better, better soon," said Chaney.

The Dollar Tree distribution center wasn't the only business destroyed in Marietta. The town's grocery store and Dollar General were also wiped out.

City leaders said the loss of these major businesses in town has caused a 30 to 40% decline in tax revenue.

"We're down to the bare minimum. You know, we try to do street repairs patches when we can. But economically, it's been a big impact on the city," said Chaney.

Chaney said losing more than 400 jobs hasn't helped either.

"That does affect us economically because they're not shopping it where they can. In Marietta, you know, they're shopping somewhere else. And so that does affect us as well," said Chaney.

Another lifeline that was also lost? The local hospital.

"It was on April 27, about 11:00 at night, and the tornado hit our hospital, making it inoperable," said Scott Callender, the Hospital Administrator at Mercy Health Love County.

The hospital building itself hasn't reopened, but they are making some progress.

"All of our services, except the family practice clinic, outpatient ultrasound and our ems station, one that's all operating right now," said Callender.

Their temporary ER is set to open in June followed by a new EMS station.

As there are new developments on the horizon, hospital officials said they've faced challenges over the last year.

"It's been an inconvenience for our patient load here. Patients will have to travel, but that's just part of it right now," said Callender.

Right now, they're hoping a new hospital will open in two years.

"It feels a lot better. Making people want to see progress. We all do. But it's a process to go through insurance....FEMA," said Callender.

In late April, the community got some good news as Dollar Tree announced a return to Marietta with a new enhanced distribution center and the return of 400 jobs.

It's slow, but now meaningful progress for a community that was wiped out in minutes.

"It's frustrating for the public to come in here and ask us....they get frustrated because we don't know. And we get frustrated because the people we ask don't know. Yeah. So it's a cycle. It's a vicious cycle," said Chaney.

City officials believe the Dollar General store will open its doors first, followed by a new grocery store and the hospital.