Trials, Tribulations and Tornados
August 25, 1998
As I was leaving Newark on my way home from work, I
heard the Tornado sirens wailing. I continued on home. About 10 miles from
home I encountered the storm. Horizontal rain beat on me from the right and
then the left. Debris filled the air and littered the highway. I was driving around
and over small trees everywhere. I came around a bend in the highway and
there was a huge tree blocking the road. So I turned around and went back to a
side road to try and get around the tree. As I was driving along the road a huge
tree fell across the road right in front of me. I slammed on my brakes and got
stopped just in time. So I turned around and headed back farther still to take
another road. I didn't get far up that road either as a fire engine was blocking
the road. So I went to another road. I followed it until I knew I was past all the
obstacles and then turned on a road that headed back to the highway. Soon I could
see a fireman standing in the road on a rise. There was a bad auto accident on the
other side of the rise, but I managed to get by it. As I was about to get back to
the highway, a highway department person stopped me and said I couldn't get
through because there were power lines down ahead. So I turned around and
headed onto roads I have never been on before. I drove awhile and then headed on a
road back to the highway. Again I was stopped by a downed tree. As I sat there
trying to figure what to do, a truck pulled up behind me an a guy got out with a
chainsaw. We cut and moved the tree and I headed back to the highway. I finally
made it there. As I was driving up my valley I could see it had got hit bad. Large
trees down everywhere. Limbs over 15 feet long (picture 1) were hanging from electrical
wires in the middle of fields, no where near any trees! As I went by my
neighbors house, she was out in the road. I stopped to talk with her and she said
they had lost the roof off the backside of their house. So I headed on up to my
house. I turned into my driveway and that was all the father I could go. My huge
pine trees were down across my driveway. Downed powerlines were laying
everywhere. I couldn't get up to my house. I started walking up the road
following the powerlines. I could see the line up there on the poles in my
neighbors cowfield, so I climbed the fence and entered the field. I immediately
tripped over something. A downed powerline! There were two! Luckily it wasn't
live! So I continued up into the field and then down to my property. The house is
ok, but there is lots of tree damage. My house was a mess inside. The wind going through the house must have been amazing. I have a back section of the house I use only for storage. There is a small cabinate type door that connects between them. I had wired this door shut with several strands of wire. A person could not open this door without a crow bar or a similiar tool. The door was open and the wire all broken! I went to go back to my van to get some groceries I had left there.
I followed the downed power lines all the way to my neighbors house a quarter of a mile away. I walked back down the road. There were several downed trees across the road. A sheriff came up the road following the path of the
tornado. He said it may be two or three days before I get my electric and phone
line back. To get back to my house, I had a choice of walking all the way back to my neighbors or climbing the cliff below my house. I chose the latter. I had a tree next to the house I was worrying about because it was
growing into the powerlines. I don't have to worry anymore, the tree is gone. (picture 2) I
had also been worrying about a huge broken limb from the pine trees hanging on
my phone line. I don't have to worry anymore, the phone line, the limb and the
pine trees are gone (picture 3). I am going to have to rake all the roofing tiles from my
lawn. I guess the tile still on the roof is good. I finally found my canoe. I was
successful in climbing the tree and dislodging it. My cat finally showed up later.
Though she had a wild look in her eye and looked a bit frayed, there was no
other evidence that she had been airborne. I got my electric back the next day, but it was two more days before I got my phone lines back up. It was a lot of work but I managed to finally cut through all the downed pine trees on my driveway (picture 4). I walked down to the rainrock, the other part of my property. I lost two of my 200 year old oak trees. All in all, I have about 25 large trees down and a lot of chainsawing ahead of me. I will remove only the ones in my yard and blocking the rainrock, the rest will stay where they are as they serve as good habitat.
Picture 1
Picture 2
Picture 3
Picture 4
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