The Great Tornado of '08

Never in my entire lifetime did I ever think I would actually "take part" (for lack of a better phrase) in a tornado let alone have my own property damaged from one.

I was in Wichita, KS (ironic how I was in the heart of "tornado alley") this past weekend for a wedding. During the early morning hours of Sunday, the 8TH of June, I was awakened by 2 phone calls from 2 of my friends. They were calling to check on me. I had no idea why. They had forgotten that I was out of town. They then proceeded to tell me that a tornado had struck right in my own neighborhood. I was in shock. I had planned on staying in Wichita a few more hours before beginning my short trek back to Omaha. After waiting a few more hours for reports of what kind of damage my own property had sustained, I decided I had better head for home to see for myself.

Once I had gotten on the road, I found out through numerous phone calls that I had quite a bit of damage to my own house and yard. But it didn't sound as bad as what others in Omaha had gone through. Some families lost the roofs to their homes. Consequently, they are unable to live in their houses. I'm very fortunate to still have a house. Amazingly enough, no one was hurt nor killed.

After arriving home and having to show ID just to get to my street, ( there were many people out driving around just to see what they could, having no business in the area) I honestly couldn't believe what I was seeing. My huge tree gone, half of the front of my house covered by a tree and my roof missing most of the shingles....just to name a few of the things that instantly stuck into my mind. There were people all around......literally. They were already on my driveway with chainsaws in hand preparing to cut up the tree blocking my garage. They came from nowhere yet no one cared who they were helping or what needed to be done. They just set to work and everyone helped anyone that needed it. We carried limb after limb, shingle after shingle, fence post after fence post, branch after branch, etc., to the curb and started making piles that would now be considered garbage. The city of Omaha appeared with front-end loaders and dump trucks and began the slow process of removing all the debris. Keep in mind that this was a Sunday.

Here is a brief run down on the damage my house received:

• Several shingles gone and some down to the wood rooftop
• Gutters and downspouts damaged or missing
• Facia missing or damaged
• Several holes in my vinyl siding of which one of them still has something sticking out from it way up high
• A shattered window pane
• Most of my fence gone....just gone
• My big, beautiful tree....gone
• My A/C unit tipped over...resulting in bent copper tubing and wires getting pulled out from the compressor. It was repaired in a couple days.
• Interior water damage in a bedroom on the ceiling
• Interior water damage in my formal living room on the ceiling
• A wind chime slightly damaged on the back side of the house

I remember seeing people carrying food and offering it to whomever would eat. The Red Cross was out with water, Lowe's Home Improvement Center came driving down the street giving out free decking used on roof tops and large brand new tarps to be used to help cover holes or whatever they were needed for.

The sky was still very overcast and at one point it started to mist on us again. No one paid any attention to it. We all just kept plugging away at all the work still needing to be done to try and get each yard back into some state of normalcy. Clothing and shoes became wet and muddy, hair was mussed and damp, chain saws could be heard for blocks around, trucks and loaders were everywhere the eye looked, piles along the curbs grew in height yet no one slowed down. Through all the organized chaos, the street slowly started showing signs of "it's all we can do here for now" progress. Along with the tree having fallen from his yard, my neighbor had a hole in his roof so he had people making a temporary patch to keep future rains from getting in. I asked if they could do the same for me and they were kind enough to oblige.

I remember seeing channel 7 in my driveway, channel 3 in my back yard and the Omaha World Herald appeared on my driveway and was talking to myself and a friend from my work that had come over to help with cleanup. The newspaper representative was trying to figure out just what path the tornado had taken. (click on the article to read it)

Here are some pictures that might help you understand just what took place on my street.

What I first saw upon arriving home from out of town...my house.

The street light was even compromised from the tornado
The main damage was shingle-removal
My neighbor's truck without the tree!

What's left of my own fence
Shingles and paper ripped off causing interior water damage
A small part of the gutter and downspout damage
The spot where my neighbor's tree once stood, the tree that landed up against my house.
The spot where my tree used to stand

One pile of debris on one side of my driveway
The other pile of debris on the other side of my driveway
A window pane that was shattered
Beginning the removal of my tree from my neighbor's truck
My neighbor's tree that landed against my house

I happened to be off from work the following day and set about trying to clean up my yard a little bit further from what had been accomplished the prior day. I was able to get all the grass raked. The lawn was over-due for mowing and I didn't want anything laying on the grass any longer than it had to in the event the wind decided to howl once again. My neighbor's and I managed to get all the fence post cut down and the rest of the tattered fence lines pulled out to the curb. While cleaning up my neighbors yard, a lady that lives down the street came walking up with 3 pans of goodies in hand and said being she didn't know what else to do to help, she was good at baking and brought 3 different kinds of bars to whomever would like them. I distributed them to my two neighbors and kept one for myself. I'm still amazed at the generosity and kindness shown by perfect strangers in these difficult times. And the way people can come together in times of need is unbelievable. ;)

I have since had several companies over to give estimates of damages for insurance. The adjuster will be arriving in the next several days.

I just want to thank everyone that has phoned and stopped by to see what they can do to help. You'll never know what it means to know that I have people I can count on when I need it. I'm more thankful than you will ever know. God Bless You.....