Hi everyone - I am back on line now and trying to catch up - there is a week's worth of emails to be waded through. If you have sent a note in the past week and have not heard - I will catch up I promise. For those of you that don't know - we were in the line of a horrible straight-line supercell storm that hit at 12:45am on Thursday, August 10. We and Puffin are physically ok - although Puffin is now afraid of the dark and heaven forbid a storm rolls in again (even rain). The house sustained minor damage to the west end and gable - ripped eves front and back, shingle damage on the roof, gutters, leaders, downspouts ripped off, shingles on the west end broken, and a hole in the west end exterior wall that does not penetrate to the interior. We lost all or most of four of the six major trees on the property - one of the others was topped by 12 feet that landed on the front lawn; the remaining maple sustained minor damage. Many of the limbs landed on the roof but came down parallel to it, and with full foliage thankfully did minor damage compared to what could have happened. There was a huge longneedle pine on the side of the front yard that came down against the northwest corner of the house, and the house withstood it. It forced the trunk to break so that it carried up along the side of the house rather than the house giving way and the corner being destroyed (the corner of the bedroom my mother was sleeping in). All of the limbs were stripped from the trunks of all of them, and the trunks snapped off about 15 to 20 above the ground. We also had a dead tree in the back on the property line come down - on our acre of course.
After it subsided (it was over in five minutes) we gathered at the end of our driveways (Zoe lives next-door) and literally counted heads. Thankfully here and in the whole storm path there were no physical injuries or deaths. Property damage is horrendous - about 10 houses in the wake have been condemned, and others have major damage although salvageable. More cars than one can count have been totaled with tress on them - likewise swimming pools.
Most roads were closed on Thursday, and save for two the crews had them open by Friday. Power was out for us for 37 1/2 hours till 1:15pm Friday afternoon. Phone service had been sketchy as it turns out - the guys are on strike remember. It tends to come and go still. Even if your line has a dial tone, you may not be able to call where you want to. We lost very little from the fridge and freezers surprisingly. Our next door neighbors have a generator (Zoe's family) - and Billie come with the hot coffee on Thursday morn, and also heated up our supper on Thursday along with providing some much welcomed cold drinks.... we have central water thankfully and that was fine - just not cold (it hit the mid eighties but low humidity).
Friday morning I was awakened by banging on the door, and the local telephone workers that are on strike here in the east were going around with chain saws trying to get doors and garages accessible, and getting major limbs off houses and such to relieve the weight pressure. Twelve guys with four chain saws worked for an hour or so and at least got the house freed up. Travelers Insurance has been wonderful - I participated in their emergency damage program whereby they assigned a contractor who in turn got a tree service. They were here Friday morning to apprise the damage and needs, and were back in the afternoon to get the limbs off the roof and tarp it - we had more rain over the weekend. I had three guys and two chain saws on my roof, with logs four inches and up coming down from up there. They were back on Saturday morning to do what insurance would cover - the limbs and related debris that involved the house. That meant that the immediate area around the house got cleaned up - sawed, stacked or chipped. That still left limbs and branches fully covering the back - and we have an acre. The town had committed early on to remove what could be cut and hauled to the roadside - right. The call went out in the prayer concerns in our church on Sunday for anyone with a chain saws that did not know what to do with themselves.... by Sunday night I had a fellow pledging to help on Monday morning.
The contractor came to do the appraisal and estimate on the house damage on Monday morning, and as he left Jerry arrived. I wanted to at least cover the oil and gas for the chain saw which he refused - he told me the story that when he and his wife were in their first home ( she died several years ago from lung cancer) the same type of thing happened to them, and he was trying to clean up with a hand saw. He looked up to see the Methodist minister trotting along in jeans and T-shirt with a chain saw. He refused any compensation other than for Jerry to pass the favor on some day. Jerry said he has been waiting thirty years to do so - and we won. Our minister's wife joined him to help haul in the afternoon - till the rain started. Both promised to be back the next day. They were - with another three early retirees, the youth pastor, four kids from the youth group, one youth mom and the little brother, who did his part twig by twig in each hand to the pile at the edge of the road. By 4pm the yard was pristine, including raking, since the debris was all over and too large for a lawn mower to hit. I know how wonderful this congregation is - I have been a member for 25 years, very active before the body gave out - but I have never been so overwhelmed in my life. A few people I knew - others I'd never met till they were cutting up my trees. The guys then made sure that the dangling gutters and such were taken care of since the contractor had already been here - and then Ginny finally stood in the fronthttp://www.puffinstuffny.com/storm81000/stormpage1.html yard and cried.
Our handy man was here today, and put protective coverings over the holes in the roof and house - put Puffin's trolley back up for the third time this year, this time in a different orientation since the first seems to be jinxed. Since this is shorter, he used the remainder to run a line for the birdfeeders come fall - squirrel proof and also compensating for no trees to hang them on.
Pictures have of course been taken through each phase - our insurance is good and that is not a problem - but the application has been made for disaster relief, and all are being urged to do the proper documentation for claiming that. Pending approval from the insurance company, the same contractor will be here to do the repairs, and that time frame is very short once the approval is gotten. Given that they work directly with Travelers, is makes it a much more streamlined process, and also in a case like this much easier, since they secured the services from close by but out of the area.... trying to get contractors and tree services on a private basis is like digging for oil right now.
The storm path was about two miles wide, and about 10 to fifteen miles lone. I know that we individually were very very fortunate compared to others - but it is the closest I hope i have to ever come. I have never known such fear in my life, and most of you know that physically I have already gone to sleep many times not knowing if I would wake up being so sick. Puffin is slowly settling down - it took most of the week for her to settle to bed in our room, and she is most assuredly afraid of the dark, and storms. I got a night light for her today - but the other morning we had another thunder storm and that poor dog dug the toys out of her crate and burrowed in for dear life. She shook so her tags jingled loud enough to hear across the room. Ginny wasn't doing too good either, other than letting God know that we had had enough already.
To those of you that have been praying and sending good wishes - I thank you. There is no doubt that we had an angel on the roof that night. I will catch up with everything as I can - I still have mom in bed, so now I have to run both ships. I am tired, but ok - I had a bad attack with my body on Friday morning from the stress since I had not taken extra medication against it, but soon got that under control. I am way past exhausted, but otherwise ok.
Hope all are well - God bless,
Ginny
epilogue..... within a month the repairs on the house were completed and life continued on.... we thought that we had all come to terms with it until fall came and the leaves came off the trees (that were left) - and you could truly see the full path of destruction, which looked like a war zone. It never ceased to raise awe each time you saw it. With spring though, came regrowth.... the trees that were so massively damaged have new sprouts on them.... new ones have been planted, and damaged lawns have been reseeded..... life is becoming green again.