Company to Rebuild in Town Destroyed by Tornado

VF Corp., is coming back to the tornado-destroyed town and bringing hope and more jobs.
Company to Rebuild in Town Destroyed by Tornado
Catherine Yang
8/3/2011
Updated:
10/1/2015

<a><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/113632660.jpg" alt="A NASA Earth Observatory photo; destruction can be seen in the track left by a tornado on May 2, 2011 as seen from space of Tuscaloosa, Alabama. (NASA via Getty Images)" title="A NASA Earth Observatory photo; destruction can be seen in the track left by a tornado on May 2, 2011 as seen from space of Tuscaloosa, Alabama. (NASA via Getty Images)" width="575" class="size-medium wp-image-1799851"/></a>
A NASA Earth Observatory photo; destruction can be seen in the track left by a tornado on May 2, 2011 as seen from space of Tuscaloosa, Alabama. (NASA via Getty Images)

VF Corp., the major employer of Hackleburg, Ala., is coming back to the tornado-destroyed town and bringing hope and more jobs.

The EF-5 tornado destroyed 80 percent of Hackleburg on April 27, including the Wrangler jeans plant owned by VF Corp., and damaged 30 more businesses. The town, which has a population of about 1,500, was home to 32 businesses total.

VF Corp. made the announcement Monday night and in a statement said the “potential capacity increase could bring about 50 additional jobs to the community for a total of approximately 200 employees at the facility.”

“Throughout the evaluation, Hackleburg remained our leading option based on multiple factors, notably a work force who has demonstrated a passion for their work and a commitment to our company,” said Eric Wiseman, CEO of VF Corp.

Operations had temporarily been moved to a VF Corp. plant in Holly Pond that had been shut down in 2010. The new plant is slated for completion mid-2013, and the 150 Hackleburg employees will continue to work at the Holly Pond plant with transportation provided until the construction is complete.

Sam Tucker, vice president of VF Jeanswear-Americas, wrote in an e-mail that the company was mainly looking at “utilizing or adding capacity at other VF operated distribution facilities,” and that they had been given incentives including “state and local tax abatements, retraining funds, and community development grants.”

The town itself offered $100,000 of in-kind services, and Marion County offered $200,000 more.

“Today’s news that Wrangler will rebuild in our state could not have come at a better time as communities across Alabama are rebuilding their lives,“ Gov. Robert Bentley said in a statement on the day of the announcement. ”I have worked closely with the Vanity Fair team to encourage them to stay in Hackleburg. This decision is a result of a tremendous team effort involving state and local officials who are committed to putting Alabamians back to work.”

The town will also know by the end of the week whether their local grocery store, the Piggly Wiggly, will be coming back. Residents say their Dollar General has bought a lease and may be reopening mid-October. The town’s pharmacy is being built in a new location, and the bank and post office remained operational after the tornado.

Nancy McCarley, the owner of Hackleburg’s Panther Food Mart, says they were able to start servicing the community four days after the tornado.

“We were up and running in about three weeks,” McCarley said over the phone. “We were really lucky, we had three and a half walls standing and a lot of businesses had none.”

McCarley said they had lost all their contents and biggest concern after the tornado was getting gas, bread, and milk into town. Barber’s milk had raised their prices, so she and her husband bought milk themselves in a neighboring town to bring back to Hackleburg.

“It’s really thanks to the volunteers,” McCarley said over the phone. “The town was in total devastation after the tornado, and now we’re rebuilding and regrowing at an incredible speed. Lot’s of houses are going up; there are probably 8 to 10 houses being built as we speak.”

McCarley adds that new businesses are coming in, like the new beauty shop opened in the town recently, and hopes with Wrangler coming back that will attract even more business.

Teresa Hutcheson, a Panther Food Mart employee, says she was in the store when the tornado swept through.

“The power went off and the sirens went on, so I locked the door and I was going to ride it out here,” Hutcheson said in a phone interview. She said her son and husband had come to get her and they could see the tornado approaching on the nearby highway.

“We got about a mile and it picked my truck up,” Hutcheson said over the phone. A metal roof had knocked their truck out of the tornado and they were unharmed. Hutcheson said she saw the roof fly over them and it destroyed the Piggly Wiggly grocery store¸ where they helped 17 people get out.

“It’s getting a lot better. Everyday a new house or something is coming in. Things are coming back and more hope is coming back every day,” Hutcheson said.