Sulphur Business Owners Assess Damage As Donations Pour In

As more relief arrives in Sulphur after a tornado destroyed the city's downtown and many surrounding homes, more roads have opened, allowing people a chance to start cleaning up and saving what they can.

For many business owners, Tuesday was the first day they were allowed back in to see their businesses firsthand.

“We don't have a town anymore,” long-time Sulphur resident Pam Chitwood said. “It's just heartbreaking, heart wrenching, every time I pull through, I just cry.”

Through the devastation left behind from Saturday night’s tornado, Chitwood said though her historic church, the First Christian Church, was damaged, some of the beauty shined through.

“The stained-glass windows were unscathed,” she said.

Chitwood's church sits on the edge of downtown Sulphur, where businesses took a direct hit.

US Sen. James Lankford also visited the town, and walked through what’s left of the historic downtown.

“Every one of these represents a family,” Lankford said of each damaged business. “It’s a beautiful downtown, historic, and to be able to see damage and what it’s become now, realize it will never be the same.”

Many business owners returned to clean up and salvaging what remains.

“It's just heartbreaking,” said Mary Lou Heltzel, the volunteer administrator for the Arbuckle Historical society.

Heltzel said a group of volunteers came to the Arbuckle Historical Society Museum to pull out artifacts to be moved to another location.

“We truly love our town and have a lot of wonderful people here,” said Heltzel.

Other people who helped out downtown are sorting through donations. Volunteers say they don’t need any more clothing. Instead, they need more cleaning supplies, food, baby items like diapers and face masks to help block toxins like asbestos for those cleaning inside the older buildings.

Those affected by the tornado say they are grateful for the help, and many people, like Angela London who owns a bed and breakfast, said they plan to rebuild.

“We have worked so hard to fulfill this dream we will not fail," London said. "We did not come this far to fail it's all part of the plan it will be bigger and better, I know it will."