Tornado Update

by Clay

The tornado that hit Manhattan last night has been classified EF-4, with winds in excess of 170 mph. By the time it bounced across town to our neighborhood, it had diminished to an EF-1 or lower, which probably explains why our house wasn't severely damaged.

After a few hours of sleep we woke up this morning to find that most of the trees in our immediate neighborhood sustained irreparable damage. It's a not stretch to say that all the trees on our property sustained some damage, with only two able to be saved.

Piles of debris are already piled 10 feet and higher in front of homes all the way down the block. (Interestingly, two blocks away, you wouldn't even know there had been a storm, let alone a tornado.)

Amazingly, none of our homes suffered more than minor damage: a few shingles missing here, a gutter broken off there. After seeing the damage in the light, it's clear that at least part of the tornado hit on the side of our front yard (taking out a group of trees), bounced over the house, then tore through the back yard and into the ravine destroying dozens of trees and taking all the power and utility lines with them. The force was so strong on the lines that it snapped the utility pole at the corner of our property. It's this pole, and the tons of debris lying on the line that is causing the delay in restoring power and phone service. Several different tree crews have come to look at the situation, but all of them have left without doing any work.

The large blue spruce in our backyard (one of our favorite trees) fell toward the house and appears to have clipped the electric meter. No word yet on whether it's damaged. The other large tree in our backyard, a large silver maple, split in half and the tornado lifted a large part of it dozen or so feet into the ravine and is splayed across all of the other debris.

As we started walking around this morning, we started picking up debris including: a cancelled check from 1980, a business card from the Honda dealership that was devastated on the OTHER side of town, invoices, an intact test tube, photos, pages from a text book, game cards, insulation, shingles, and various other things used to build homes, businesses, and campus buildings. I've experienced this before when I worked for the Red Cross, but it's been surreal to have it happen to our house, our neighborhood, and our city.

Reports are that over 45 homes were completely destroyed on the west side of Manhattan where the tornado first touched down. We know that area well: some of our closest friends (the Haar's) live on the hardest hit street. They evacuated early this morning and are staying with friends.

As we continue without electricity for a second night, our nerves are starting to fray. It's been especially tough on Cameron who's had his life interrupted. We're hopeful that his summer theatre program is back in session tomorrow to give him some different scenery.

We're excited that Hjalti's brother is arriving tomorrow night, but hope that the electricity is back on by then. It's going to be quite a shock for someone who's never been to the U.S. before!

Thanks for your kinds words and good wishes. My mobile phone remains the best way to contact us.

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