Tornado

 

It’s been four and a half years since that event changed our lives. All the basic rebuilding is well behind us and some landscaping and rockwork has brought our weed problems brought about by lack of canopy cover under some semblance of control. So life goes on. But I miss the trees, and the fireflies. In general where the tornado came through every tree over 24” caliper was gone. Those 24-30”+/- were snapped off near the ground. Trees larger than that were uprooted. Out of every three trees, one was in the smaller category and two were larger. In the immediate vicinity of the house there are seven stumps indicating twenty one primarily mature oaks were gone. Gone also are fireflies who were sheltered under their canopy. Prior to the tornado the fireflies would put on quite a show in season right up to our back deck and around us. Many hundreds looking for love under the shelter of those oaks.

There were some positives. The new shop was a far better than the original which was built quickly during original house building to expedite house construction. Maintenance on our water catchment system is simpler without as much gutter cleaning. And we did still have nine dogwood trees that still bloom in spring to remind us of life’s rebirth.

Below is the bit I wrote just after the tornado to help process the event, not a word has been changed.

Tornado 2018

I’ve long held the opinion, based on personal experience, that the moment you declare something “bulletproof”, Mother Nature and Murphy set down together to develop a bigger bullet.

Friday evening the final day of November 2018 they pulled out some of the heaviest artillery in their arsenal.

Susie and I were watching a state playoff game on TV with regular continuous updates on severe weather and when they started talking about severe warning passing Interstate 40 South of us, I put on street clothes, Susie was already dressed. A check on my favorite weather app showed that the worst of the weather was just to the West of us probably following the far shore of the lake. Then Susie’s niece in Tulsa called and said it was heading right for us and we headed out the front door on the way down to the water tanks below the back deck. Before we were halfway down the side of the house we heard the sound of the coming tornado. Down under the back deck between the first water tank and concrete block stem wall of the house we faced each other in a strong embrace leaning into the water tank with my back to the coming tornado.

Short version, all hell broke loose, literally. Longer version doesn’t really say that much more. I’ve always heard it sounds like a freight train and it did once in my teen years as I lay in a ditch and watched a smaller one go through a field nearby. This one was different, the sound was the same but it was more than a sound you heard, it was an all encompassing thing you felt with your whole being. I can’t tell you anything about the sights, it was dark and stuff filled the air, my back was sandblasted and Susie was days getting the grit out of her hair. Nor do I have any sense of the time involved; all that existed was the all encompassing sound.

Once the sound left we came out from under the deck in shock so my memories are disjointed. The shop was gone as well as the summer house behind us. Debris was everywhere; downed trees, insulation galore, lumber, metal roof panels and other debris defined the landscape. One half of our roof was totally gone, our bedroom was now totally sky lighted, the canopies over the front entry and the back deck were gone, the front door was blown open (the strike jamb shattered) and the double car garage door seriously bent in. We were alive.

It’s now a week later and a lot has transpired. House roof is reframed, decked and felted; once again a rain tight house.  The driveway is cleared as well as the debris on the shop slab. Electrical power has been restored. House interior has been remediated regarding water damage. Most of the carpet has been removed. All of our possessions that are not with us in our temporary housing have been removed and stored. We spent the first night in the extra bedroom that was on the side of house still with a roof. We then spent 5 days at the Holiday Inn Express in Tahlequah courtesy of our insurance company. We are now staying in a quite comfortable 3 bedroom 2 bath house (with a lake view) once again courtesy of our insurance company. Rebuilding will take a while but it’s all just stuff. A little more than stuff were the three large oaks in front of the house that are no more. There are a lot of other downed trees around us but within a year or so some balance should be restored. I’ve gone from a fleet of five boats to none though there is some hope that the 14’ canoe EasyB may be found more or less intact, the others are at hand but beyond repair. A new garage door is scheduled to be installed next week, heavy duty double wall steel like the original; a lesser door would have resulted in our discussing damage to the cars. We have a new mailbox but I forgot to get another rain gage to put on it though we will have more leeway in locating a rain gage now that we have less canopy coverage.

One more comment before I get to more important stuff…there was insulation and leaves everywhere. Well the leaves didn’t get in the closed drawers but the insulation did. Most importantly; the people, first responders, utility crews, friends and family, neighbors, the insurance company and their contractors all have been a tremendous blessing in dealing with such a disaster. First responders worked through the first night to clear the road and checked on us several times through the night. Utility crews had power restored in the matter of a few days and there were a multitude of poles down. If we had accepted all the help that was offered we would have had people stacked up like cordwood. We appreciate more than you will ever know the offers, thoughts and prayers. Our only previous experience with insurance and disasters was with FEMA. Dealing with private insurance is like being in a different universe; a much nicer one. The local volunteer fire departments have been very helpful, warm food and lots of support. Oh and the American Red Cross did make a token drive through earlier though they didn’t stop at our place until today and then left a number to call that wasn’t immediately answered.

I suppose that’s about it for now, I wanted to get something written down to help process the trauma (though writing hasn’t been as hard as I’d anticipated) and to  send to some who I correspond regularly with. And also to email around to friends and family; please feel free to share.

 

Skip & Susie