LONDON, Ky. — Nearly three weeks after an EF4 tornado caused widespread damage in London, cleanup efforts are still underway with people from across the state pitching in.

Unexpected good samaritans from a detention center in neighboring Clay County, dressed in orange, have helped clean up and stock up at distribution sites and areas of London that were hit the hardest.

Among the group was 20-year-old Aiden Nevels.

“We came through and helped a lot and picked up a lot of debris in the trailer parks and things like that allowed some houses,” Nevels said. 

Nevels and the other men were part of a work release program, completing their debt to society within the community. Supervisor Clarence Sizemore said this is the first program in the region allowing inmates to work in other counties.

“There are some good people that are locked up, that’s not career criminals. They just made a mistake, and once they reach a certain level, which is level one, they’re allowed to go out and help others,” said Sizemore.

Nevels said this is an opportunity to restore himself and help people trying to rebuild after the storm.

“These people need the things that they’re getting. They need all the new supplies. They need the food. The babies need diapers. They need their toys and stuff because they lost a lot of things. They lost basically everything,” Nevels said. 

Blaine Snellen is the owner of SE Dumpster Solutions. Earlier this week Snellen and a team loaded up three of their utility trucks with donations and tools to help in the field. 

“Now, over the past week, we took pretty much a week of donations, so we loaded everything inside the trucks. We’ve put everything in here. We’ve brought down our skid steer to help pick up the debris. And then our other two trucks are loaded with donations. We’re going to use that dumpster here in just a little bit,” Snellen said. 

While they’re headquartered over an hour and a half away, collecting massive items left behind in central Kentucky is part of their daily operation. 

“This is our largest dumpster. This is a 25-yard dumpster. That’s why we bought it, bringing the biggest we can. Capacity-wise, it can hold five-ton, 10,000 thousand pounds, depending on the debris,” Snellen said. 

He said it’s all free, as they just want to help people rebuild.

London Mayor Randall Weddle said the tornado destroyed 280 homes. For those still needing resources, distribution operations have moved to 1480 South Main St. in London.