WINCHESTER — Friday marks one year since an EF-3 tornado hit Winchester, Indiana, and the city’s mayor at the time told WRTV that 40 people were left injured, 110 homes were damaged and 22 were completely destroyed.
The city’s current mayor told WRTV that the community has worked to rebuild, despite some hardships.
WATCH | Winchester community comes together to help clean up after EF-3 tornado
“This has all happened in the past few months, people are back in their homes,” Mayor Bob McCoy said, talking about the new homes.
McCoy says great strides have been made in rebuilding the City of Winchester.
The city says the Taco Bell was once leveled. It’s now rebuilt and has already reopened.
Goodwill is in the process of rebuilding, the strip mall lot has a new owner and a Wendy’s is in the process of being built.
“It’s great to see because they could have just picked up and left,” Mayor McCoy told WRTV.
Mayor McCoy tells WRTV that after the tornado, unemployment for Winchester increased to 4.5%.
He says that equates to 92 people in the current workforce who are unemployed one year after a major local disaster.
As far as housing is concerned, the city says new homes have been rebuilt and more are on the way.
“I wouldn’t want to be any other place than Winchester, Indiana, to go through such a tragic event,” Beth Moland said.
