'It's been tough': Marietta city leader reflects one year after EF-4 tornado

It’s been one year since a deadly EF-4 tornado touched down in Marietta. It killed one person driving on Interstate 35 and destroyed several businesses that the rural community relied on. Despite little progress in the last year, a sense of hope is returning to the community as efforts to rebuild what was lost finally get underway.

April 2024 tornado

On April 27th, 2024, an EF-4 touched down near Marietta and crossed over I-35.

It destroyed the Dollar Tree distribution center, hospital and grocery store in town.

“When you pretty much rely on sales tax for as far as municipality is concerning, it’s real rough. You know, it’s hard on the budget,” Scott Chaney, Marietta City Administrator, said.

A lifelong resident, he also said it was devastating to see his community hurting.

“It’s been tough, but we’ve pushed through,” he said.

He said the town was fortunate not to lose any homes to the tornado.

One year later

“We were optimistic they were coming back, and we were hoping they were coming back,” Chaney said, referencing Dollar Tree’s announcement that it would return to Marietta and rebuild a new distribution center.

Before the 2024 tornado, Dollar Tree was the biggest employer in Marietta.

The new warehouse will be in the same spot as the one destroyed last year, but it will be bigger and better, according to Dollar Tree.

“Which is huge for us to have those jobs back in town,” Chaney said.

It’s taken time, but signs of recovery are spreading in Marietta.

Looking ahead

A temporary emergency room is almost ready to see patients and is built to withstand an EF-4 tornado.

City leaders are also hopeful the empty lot where Homeland stood will soon be home to a new grocery store.

“We plan on approaching this year with optimism and hope for the future. And that, you know, that we will be back to normal very shortly,” Chaney said.

Dollar Tree’s corporate website indicated the distribution center is expected to be up and running by the spring of 2027, and city officials expect the temporary emergency room to be operational by this June.

“Hopefully more good news is on the way. It’s been a long year,” Chaney said.