02 Aug 2024 Photography Decay

Beauregard Tornado Damage Visible Years Later

The author is working on a photography project called "Structures," documenting man-made buildings.

Beauregard Tornado Damage Years Later (view full res)

I have a few photography projects I’m working on as time and space allow. One of these projects I'm calling "Structures," which focuses on various types of man made structures. This can include documentary depictions of rural decay or well-maintained buildings, such as the Marvyn United Methodist Church images I took a few weeks ago. Today, I’m featuring a house that was hit by the Beauregard Tornado (a powerful EF4 tornado on March 3, 2019) and has been slowly reclaimed by the land. I have driven past this house for years, wanting to document it before it was completely gone or razed by the county. I finally had the chance to stop on a sweltering, humid July morning.

Trees Left Standing After Beauregard Tornado Damage Years Later (view full res)

Gate Entrance into Empty Land after the Bearegard Tornado (view full res)

The trees are one of the most striking aspects of driving around this area. Some of the tornado damaged land was owned by the lumber companies, which cleared and replanted the land as if they had harvested the area. However, there are always some full-sized trees left standing for various reasons. Sometimes, after a tornado, you see areas where the storm has done the work and left a few trees standing. It always looks a bit ghostly, as if something that once was there is gone, except for these few holdouts.

Images of abandoned houses may not be everyone's idea of great photography, but they serve an important purpose in documenting moments in history. I can appreciate almost every genre of photography for what it represents, and abandoned buildings and places tell fascinating stories. Photography is about telling stories through sets of images, and if you can do that effectively, the genre shouldn't matter.

Beauregard Tornado Damage Years Later (view full res)

Green Trim Doors on a Tornado Damage House (view full res)

What’s particularly interesting about this house is that several homes a mile or two away were destroyed, demolished, and rebuilt. Insurance, FEMA, or other aid programs eventually helped some people recover, while others were left without assistance. That’s just the way life is, and you can find similar stories in any natural disaster across the country. I have published a few updates like the Rebuilt Watoola Methodist Church and Beauregard Tornado Three Months Later that show some that were rebuilt and some areas that were left as is, but all these spaces are difficult images to do well.

While I was photographing the house, I spoke with the owner's daughter, who wasn’t living here at the time of the tornado in 2019. She shared that her elderly father, who lived in the house during the storm, didn't know whom to call for help. By the time he reached out, it was too late to request assistance from FEMA or other programs, so he didn't have any help to clean up or rebuild. He now lives down the road with other family members, and it was clear from our conversation that the five years since the tornado struck have not diminished the impact of those memories.

The images I took that day were all captured from outside the house, standing on the property’s perimeter. The weather in this area makes the overgrowth too dense and dangerous (due to snakes) to venture too far into the woods or uncut grass, so I just observed from a distance.

Clock and Phone on the Wall of a Destroyed House (view full res)

One of my favorite shots from this set was the clock and phone on the wall. It resembles an antique Bell South rotary dial phone you might find at a vintage store or garage sale. It’s an amazing historical marker, a time stamp that photographs can capture and preserve. The collection of images from the day are below.