When everyone woke up on that Monday, Dec. 16, 2019 morning, no one knew that by the end of the day the county would lose its library. But by the end of the day that is exactly what happened when the EF-2 tornado struck the building, blowing off the roof.
However, that was only part of it. If it had stopped at just that, things would have not been so bad, but following the tornado that night was three to four inches of rain. Without a roof, the rain could only go one place: Inside the building.
“I knew it would be not good when I walked in the next day,” Mona Swayze, branch manager of the Columbia-Marion County Public Library, said.
It was worse than she feared, with standing water up to her ankles once she got inside the building. She said she immediately called the director of the South Mississippi Regional Library, Ryda Worthy, and told Worthy she needed to get there. The interior of the building had to be gutted.
When the tornado hit, Swayze said at first they did not realize the roof had been blown off. She said they saw debris across the street and thought it was debris from somewhere else.
Add on top of that a pandemic, and the library has been closed for the most part of 2020. People can use the curbside service, but browsing and looking for books is something that has not been possible since the tornado.
The first few months after being hit were spent doing clean-up and boxing the books to place in storage. Afterwards, the hunt was on for a temporary location. Mickey Webb offered the Rankin Building on Main Street, with the first four months being rent free. With a temporary location, they were ready to set up and reopen; then COVID-19 hit and everything was shut down, including the library.
Eventually, the library did open in the temporary location on Main Street in June, but they have only been able to do curbside service because of the coronavirus.
Since the Broad Street location has been closed, repairs to the building have included removing the old paneling where water had seeped behind, installations of new flooring, new wiring and repainting the entire building. Steps have also been taken to make the restrooms on the first floor handicapped accessible.
Swayze said they had outlets in the floors of the building, and even as late as August, when some of the outlets were removed in the auditorium, there was still water in them.
“That has bothered me more than anything. I’m standing there making coffee, and there were outlets in the floor in the breakroom that were still live,” she said.
Swayze said they are still working with the insurance company about the furniture, and once they are able to get the funding needed for the furniture, they can go ahead and order it. The circulation desk will be the biggest task and will have to be built specifically for the library. That alone will take about six to eight weeks once the authorization is received.
Swayze commended the Marion County Board of Supervisors and said they have really stepped up to the plate in helping rebuild the library.
She said she’s learned many lessons from the tornado, including the importance of cataloging everything. Everything, she said, even if you only take a picture of the item and the serial numbers to make sure you know exactly what you have.
Swayze said it may be February before they are able to move back to its Broad Street location.
