They feel the wind now.

It howls across a stark landscape of concrete foundations, utility poles and empty streets.

Tamara Comer, who has returned to the 2300 block of Kentucky Ave., said that when the wind isn’t blowing, they’re struck by the contrast.

“It’s so quiet. It’s like you are living out in the country, but you are in a city.’’

Gone are the sounds of children playing in the street in front of her house. Gone are all of her neighbors, but one.

It can be depressingly bleak at times, they say, but these new Joplin pioneers — some of the first to return to rebuild in their old neighborhoods after May 22 — remain hopeful.

Some of them had second thoughts early on, but now, as more houses are being built, there is a sense of relief.

Summer Weston, who lives in the 2200 block of West 27th Street, said, “I was really questioning: What were we doing? There’s nobody out here. It was, ‘Oh my gosh, what have we done?’ It was a spontaneous decision. I can now say it was the best thing we could have ever done.’’

They have built new homes that are, for the most part, unlike the homes they lived in before. The May 22 tornado would give them the ability to build the home they always wanted. Three of these new homes have safe rooms.

Donna Dickson, who lives in the 2200 block of South Patterson Avenue, built a storm shelter big enough to hold a cot. She said, “If it’s stormy at night, this is where you will find me.’’

Virtually everything they own is new. The tornado took their clothes, their beds — everything. All of those things have been replaced. A chair or table that looks out of place among its newer counterparts could be the only chair or table salvaged from the debris of their former home.

Some of their neighbors are coming back. Others are not. “For Sale’’ signs on empty lots next to their homes make them wonder who their new neighbors might be.

They get lost because of the absence of street signs, but that is improving as new construction creates new landmarks.

At night, they say, it can be eerily dark without a street light or the glow of a neighbor’s porch light.

Many lost the things they had collected over a lifetime, the things that told their personal histories. They are few, if any, family photos on their walls.

Alisha Brigance, who lives in the 1800 block of South Delaware Avenue, said her mother offered to have some storm-damaged photos of her wedding day and of her children retouched. She declined. She wants people to know the pictures, like her family, survived the storm.

She remains watchful of her twins, a boy and a girl.

“He won’t talk about the tornado unless he brings it up. My daughter tells people that a big monster ate our house,’’ she said.

“We decided to rebuild here because of our kids. They went through a horrific event. We thought that was enough. We wanted to live where we used to live. We did not want to uproot them. This was their home. Staying here would help them heal.’’

Weston family

Summer Weston, her husband, Shan, and their two children, Josie, 10, and Brady, 3, moved into their home the week after Veteran’s Day. The family is among the earliest to rebuild in the damage zone. Their former house was constructed in 2008. They had lived there 14 months.

“The tornado took it out completely,’’ said Summer Weston. “A bedroom closet was the only thing left standing.’’

They had been shopping for new carpet that day at Lowe’s. They were eating dinner at Applebee’s when the tornado hit. The Westons think their children are recovering well from the storm because they did not experience it.

“The rooms on the west end of the house were their rooms. It looked like a bomb went off on that end. The kids lost all of their stuff, but they have been good sports about it,’’ she said.

“Ozark Center visited with our 3-year-old about it. The only thing he would say when he was asked to name some things he missed were his trains,’’ she said. “They did not experience the terror like some kids did. We were lucky we were not here or we would have been right in the center of it.’’

A reason to rebuild, she said, was their desire for their daughter to return to Cecil Floyd Elementary.

Weston said she was relieved to learn that others who have rebuilt in the tornado zone sometimes feel uncomfortable at night.

“That is so funny. But it’s so dark at night. I wondered if everybody else was thinking that. It’s a little creepy out here. You go outside at night and it’s pitch black. We need neighbors. We need street lights,’’ she said.

For Weston, the tornado has taught her a lesson about the importance of possessions.

“There were so many people who lost people they loved. All of those material things we lost, well, it’s just stuff. I am looking on the upside in that we are all still together,’’ she said.

Tamara Comer, Daren Wilkinson

Tammy Comer is a fighter. She and her boyfriend stared down an EF-5 tornado and survived. She instinctively went to an interior closet in her old home. She thinks she did so because of what she had heard and seen a month before.

“When the second siren went off, I opened the back door and it was right there,’’ Comer said. “It was a black cloud. It was so loud.

“We went straight to that closet. I am not a big spiritual person, but something told me we would be safe there,’’ Comer said. “I think it was because of those Tuscaloosa interviews that I saw where people survived in their bathrooms and closets. I never thought that I was going to die.’’

She thinks about that now. She’s afraid of storms now, too. She attends a weekly support group for tornado survivors.

“It makes me cry every day. But it’s good to know you are not alone,’’ she said. “They know exactly what you are dealing with because they were there.’’

Recently, a street light was installed in their alley.

“It’s harder at night. It’s dark. There are no lights. All you can see is the shine off of broken glass in the dirt. It’s eerie. It’s the new new,’’ said Comer. “A street light before was no big deal. When we got ours, we just stood there and looked at it.’’

They have been in their new house for about three weeks. It’s a two-story house that is a totally different house from what they had before. They turned a space for a bathroom into a safe room.

Like settlers on a wide-open prairie, they can see things from their home they could never see before.

“Before, we could not see the train at Dillons. We now see Academy Sports at night. Their light shines like a beacon,’’ she said. “We can see St. John’s and the cross to the right.’’

What they do not see from their home is a neighborhood. Of the dozen or so families on their block, only one will be coming back.

“We could have moved out into the country and bought some land. I am proud that I am staying. I am proud of what we have created,’’ she said. “I want people to know it’s OK to go home. They need to not let the tornado get the best of them.’’

Donna Dickson

The tornado has given Donna Dickson a new lease on life. She returned to her neighborhood on Dec. 1. It helped her to know that some of her neighbors were coming back.

“I was the first one to move back. My neighbors next door, Keith and Alice Adams, moved back last Friday night,’’ she said. “Mary Elick lives across the street. She’s coming back, too.

“This was home to me. When I found out they were going to rebuild, that’s when I decided to do it. I would get a new house with everything new. It’s been a lot like starting over.’’

Before the tornado, Dickson was having difficulty paying her bills and replacing things as they wore out. She thought about selling her house.

“The tornado took care of that for me,’’ she said. “It has been kind of fun, building this house and picking out things. I’m not sorry that I did it. I really like my house.

“I’m in my early 70s. I feel much better now that I have been more active. I get out more than I used to. I went dancing last weekend at Silverado,’’ she said.

“There wasn’t much going on when I moved back. Now, they are beginning to build houses. The only problem is we don’t have many trees. It is real windy up here,’’ she said.

“A friend of mine who lived near 20th Street could not stand to be where there was no trees. She lost her backyard. She was gardener. She had a fish pond. The tornado ruined all of it.’’

Dickson built her house on the same footing. Instead of three bedrooms, she now has two. She used the extra space for a pantry, laundry and a safe room.

“All of the houses so far on my street have safe rooms,’’ she said.

Brigance family

Alisha and Dustin Brigance bought their house in 2007. They and their two children, Addison and Alexander, rode out the storm in a closet. They chose to build a larger house in the neighborhood they had grown to love. They wanted their children to return to Eastmorland Elementary School. They came back to their home on Christmas eve.

“We had a tree, but not much else. Our son said it was the best Christmas ever,’’ said Alisha Brigance. “We were together in our new home.’’

They were together when the storm hit, too.

“We were standing on the back porch, my husband asked: ‘Do you hear that? Is that a train or a tornado?’ It was this black thing. It was too big to tell it was a tornado.’’

She and her children headed for an interior closet. Her husband could not fit into the closet and decided to stand in the hallway next to it. When the house started to fall apart, he worked his way inside to be with them.

“It sucked in and then blew out,’’ she said. “I kept thinking to myself: I don’t want to be Dorothy. It stopped for a while and we talked to the kids, and then it started back up again.’’

She shielded her daughter. He protected his son.

“We were left unscathed. The house was gone. I can remember that I could see into my neighbor’s kitchen, which I had never seen before,’’ she said. “To this day, the sound of wind going through metal blinds makes me cringe.’’

Neighbors they had grown to like are coming back. But there are empty lots around their home. They wonder who will buy them and what their new neighbors will be like.

“Some people aren’t returning because they can’t deal with the way it looks. I understand the way they feel. You have your good days and you have your bad days,’’ she said. “It gets a little freaky at night. There is no buffer now. When the wind blows, you can really feel it. It unnerves you.

“There are still no street signs in many areas. We had debris piles as landmarks for a while. But they are gone,’’ she said. “I still get lost, but the new houses are becoming new landmarks.

“It’s nice to see people coming back. You can say this — it’s a constantly changing landscape.’’