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Cincinnati: One Year After the Storm

By: Liz Hogan
Updated: December 31, 2012
It's been a long year for the small Cincinnati community.

After a massive tornado devastated the town, 15-year-old Tyler Sisemore grew up quickly.

"I've always been a working person but yeah, it made me speed my life up a little bit more," he says.

We last talked to Tyler back in January, just days after the storm had torn his house apart and put his father in the hospital.

"Worried about what we're going to do for a house you know? I just really don't know."

Now, 12 months later, Tyler's future is still uncertain.

He's living in a borrowed camper and says his father's hospital bills have forced them to file for bankruptcy.

"Mentally he's still recovering because it's pretty hard to recover from something like that when you lose everything you really have," Tyler says of his father.

December 31, 2010 is a date forever etched into the history of the Cincinnati community.

"Everything's before or after the tornado you know," says volunteer firefighter and longtime Cincinnati resident John Randolph.

Randolph helped rebuild the town's devastated fire station.

"Myself, my brother-in-law over there and my neighbor, we worked on the fire station off and on all summer long."

While the fire station and a few homes are standing once again, scars from the storm still show.

The foundation where Buck and Mamie Wilson's home was sits silent.

Both lost their lives in the tornado.

"Made your stomach turn when you looked outside you know, wasn't ever the same, probably won't ever be the same," Tyler says.

With a new year on the horizon, folks here are moving on, but not forgetting the past.

"Everything's for a reason I think. You wouldn't be what you are if you didn't have your experiences behind you," Randolph says.

And this community has had enough experiences in just one year, to last a lifetime.

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