Stockton’s residents believe city could wind up “better”
Resilient spirit, cooperation with agencies cited

» Stockton Facts

“The best thing we did after the tornado was cooperate with FEMA and SEMA because they knew what they were doing. We didn’t know how to clean up the town. We didn’t know how to rebuild. They did because that’s their business.” -Stockton Mayor Ralph Steele "If not for the foresight of our government to have in place programs such as FEMA, SEMA, Economic Development Agency, CDBG, and many others, the small town of Stockton would likely have become a ghost town due to the destructive powers of the May 4 tornado.” - Peggy Kenney, Executive Director, Stockton Area Chamber of Commerce “The Stockton community has become stronger and closer-knit as a result of this tragedy. The attitude has been, ‘We're going to come back and this town is going to be even better than it was.’ People stop me on the street to talk about their ideas for recovery or for future projects, and, while they're impatient to see things happen, they recognize that the decisions they make today are going to affect the community for the next thirty years.” -Fred May, FEMA Recovery Manager

STOCKTON, Mo. – Peggy Kenney didn’t hear the tornado that churned through Stockton (pop. 1,960) on the night of May 4, 2003. But she saw it from her home, three miles north of city limits.

“It was a huge mass of brown and green from all it had pulled up,” says Kenney, executive director of Stockton Area Chamber of Commerce. “We didn’t hear the roar or the freight train sound people always say they hear in a tornado. I guess because we were in it.”

After the disaster, Kenney’s son Tyler, then 15, drove to town to see if anyone needed help. “When he came back his face was completely white,” recalls Kenney. “He said the whole town was gone.’”

The F-3 tornado leveled Stockton’s town square, the heart of the city. Forty of the town’s 120 businesses were destroyed. More than 500 homes in the city suffered some degree of damage from the killer tornado, which also claimed countless century-old trees and a cemetery full of gravestones. Most tragically of all, three lives were lost.

“There was sadness and shock when we saw what had been lost,” says Brian Hammons, president of Hammons Products Company, a black walnut processing plant in Stockton. “The old small town wasn’t there anymore.”

According to Hammons, who lost eight buildings in the tornado, there was an initial temptation to rebuild the city exactly as it was before the tornado.

“But then came the realization that maybe the way it was wasn’t the way it should be,” says Hammons. “Maybe the city could be better.”

Indeed, like the Chinese character for crisis, which combines the characters for danger and opportunity, Stockton’s tornado crisis has become an opportunity to revitalize the town.

In addition to its traditional disaster relief programs, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) implemented Sustainable Recovery Initiatives in Stockton and Pierce City. The effort began with the arrival of highly skilled recovery professionals to help develop Comprehensive Recovery Plans for the hard-hit communities.

“The objective of the Comprehensive Recovery Plan was to identify projects that significantly support and promote the revitalization of the community and its economy,” explains Fred May, the recovery manager hired by FEMA to assist officials in Stockton for a period of one year. Prior to his work in Stockton, May spent 23 years as a planner for the City of Springfield.

From the beginning, it was clear that the town’s plan must be determined locally and reflect the community’s vision for its future.

“The FEMA team worked really hard to draw out from the people what they wanted,” says Peggy Kenney in Stockton. “We’re a small town, so we had to be realistic about what we could get built and what we could sustain after we got it built.”

The Comprehensive Recovery Plans, completed in August, identified specific community needs and offered a variety of recovery options.

In Stockton, a top priority was the recovery of the town square, which was key to the town’s general economic recovery. Other priorities included creating a viable community center, reinforcing the connections between the town square and Stockton Lake, and enhancing the city’s parks and open spaces.

The plan outlined the local priorities and provided a framework for Stockton to emerge from the tornado as a stronger community.

“Everyone agreed to set commercial buildings back 10 feet to allow for wider streets and turn lanes,” says Peggy Kenney. “We also wanted to turn some of our alleys into green spaces. A lot of the things we’re doing may seem small, but we wanted to rebuild right. This could be Stockton for the next 200 years.”

Business owners on the town square agreed to adopt a similar architectural style to create a more aesthetically appealing—and ultimately, more economically viable—business district. The plan also addressed the potential economic advantages offered by nearby Stockton Lake.

“The plan helped us try to connect the town and the lake,” says Hammons. “FEMA helped us put our vision in concrete terms.”

Eleven months after the tornado, Stockton is still recovering. The town square is a noisy din of construction crews. On rainy days the mud is ankle high, but the mood is upbeat.
The first four days of May have been set aside for a recovery celebration. Planned events include a hot air balloon festival, yacht parade, truck and tractor pull, and concert.

“What we’re rebuilding back is so much better than what we had,” says Stockton Mayor Ralph Steele.

Brian Hammons seconds the emotion. “I think what everybody wanted was to take the traditions of Stockton and move them into the 21st century,” he says. “Now we’ll have a community that’s more prosperous and vital and an even more wonderful place to live.”

Stockton Facts

• FEMA’s Public Assistance program provided $1,434,495 to Stockton to clear tornado debris. In addition, FEMA’s Housing Assistance program provided $264,854 to help 233 Stockton households after the disaster. An additional $702,532 was obligated by FEMA to assist 177 Stockton households with other disaster-related needs, including uninsured personal property losses, transportation, medical, dental, and funeral expenses.
  
• The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) provided more than $2.35 million in low-interest disaster loans to homeowners and business owners in Stockton.
  

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