By T. Scott Boatright
It was a harbinger of things to follow — times of tribulation and of change
But through it all, Ruston stayed strong. In fact, in my mind, since that fateful early morning of April 25, 2019, Lincoln Parish as a whole has only become stronger.
Back when I was growing up and in my younger years, while Louisiana and Lincoln Parish always had the chance to see a smaller-scale twister roar across the area, there had not been a truly devastating event.
Before the tornado that hopped across Ruston on April 25, 2019, the largest twister in Lincoln Parish area had been an F3 in 1952 that caused no injuries and no deaths.
Things changed in 2019 as the tornado that raged across Ruston as the clock neared 2 a.m.
As the winds diminished, the city landscape had been changed forever, as had the lives of city residents.
That tornado caused around $20 million in damage to Louisiana Tech University, another $11 million worth within Ruston city limits and a total of approximately $14 million throughout Lincoln Parish.
But nothing was more costly than realizing two Ruston residents — 35-year-old Kendra Butler and her 14-year-old Remington — had lost their lives when the winds toppled through the roof of their Evans Street home, crushing both.
As dawn broke that morning, showing just how bad the damage was, the phrase “Ruston Strong” was born.
Yet somehow, in the face of that devastation, Ruston has only gotten stronger ever since.
In my childhood and younger, tornadoes most often hit in what was known as “Tornado Alley,” an oval area centered on northeastern Texas and south-central Oklahoma.
But “Climate Change” has shown to be real. I’m not going to argue “Global Warming” with anyone as I am not sure how big a role mankind has played in the changing moods of Mother Nature. But for me, it’s been proven that “Climate Change” has proven to be real.
And a big part of that change has been what had been Tornado Alley drifting eastward, since the 1990s morphing into Dixie Tornado Alley that has brought a much higher chance of severe weather events to parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina.
Changes didn’t end there. Instead they kept coming.
I grew up in New Orleans and have studied and know much about hurricanes. I used to promise people around here that a tropical storm, let alone a true, full-blooded hurricane, could ever hit Ruston. Anything that would hit here would be a tropical depression at worst.
Yet I remember watching the eye of Hurricane Laura hit north Louisiana in 2020. In the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic, I watched and saw the clear eye pass directly over downtown Ruston.
All real. Still, through it all, “Ruston Strong” remained.
Adversity can make you stronger. April 25, 2019 will always be tragic.
But we’ve learned the world is changing and have grown and become better through it all.
For the grace of God go all of us.
“Ruston Strong.”
