Tornado Damage

[Carol Nelson]

Here are some pics of the damage we received from the tornado that ripped through our neighborhood Friday evening.

Here is Devante's pen...he is our two year old stallion by Rojo Tejas. We found him after the tornado had passed running about the yard. Not a mark on him.
http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/data/36931devantepen3.JPG

Here's a tree that went down on his panels that make up his pen...remarkably it only bent the top rail of the panel.
http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/data/36931devantepen.JPG

This is a door on the north side of the new barn right next to Devante's stall. It was literally blown outward, damaging the track and the flashing.
One more door on the side of the barn was also damaged this way.
http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/data/36931barndoor.JPG

A beautiful old elm tree literally split in half...it ruined the panels it fell on.
http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/data/36931oaktree.JPG

The new "skylight" in my haybarn..
http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/data/36931barnroof1.JPG

The backside of the roof...
http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/data/36931barnroof.JPG

The back of the haybarn...there is a gelding in a pen in the haybarn with a run...he was untouched and didn't seemed bothered at all. But my gelding pastured behind the barn had been hit by flying debri and was nicked up...he was shell shocked. It took him a day or more to get over the trauma.
http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/data/36931barnrear.JPG

More in next post...

[Privatetreaty]

This is bad, Carol.
I'm so sorry.

I suggest you get a couple of estimates and place an insurance claim on Monday. Even if you do some of the work yourself. The estimates upfront will keep the insurance company from short changing you.

Good luck.


.

[PattiB]

:shock: Man were you lucky not to have injured horses! Trees coming down are the worst. Glad no one was hurt.

[Carol Nelson]

Here is a carport we use for a shelter in a back pasture. Just to the left of it is what used to be a nice treeline...it is no more. I missed taking a photo of the trees laying on the ground in front of the stumps...they were lined up just like someone purposely laid them there...they had been sheared off just two feet above the ground in a straight line.
The metal in the foreground is the stuff I picked up out of two pastures, probably responsible for the cuts on the one mare...pieces from the haybarn.
http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/data/36931shelter.JPG

Here's Devante, not happy about being in an inside stall without his run...but he was back in his own home by late afternoon yesterday...
http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/data/36931devantestall.JPG

Here's his mama, Lacy, who is normally pastured in the pasture adjacent to his stall...had she been out there standing where she normally stands, she might not be alive today as that is where the most damage occurred, but we had brought her in for the storm.
http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/data/36931lacystall.JPG

And here is Red, calmly surveying the crew cleaning up his outside run...
http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/data/36931redstall2.JPG

Here's what his run looked like after the storm...a huge oak had fallen right into his pen...not even touching the panels...he was locked into his stall for the night at the time. Had he been out there he could have been severely injured.
http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/data/36931redpen.JPG

[appyday]

Wow what a mess....sorry to hear about that but glad all the critters are ok..

[Carol Nelson]

Some of the strangest things...next to the haybarn, I have a little shelf just balanced on a plank next to my faucets with soap and towels hanging. The shelf is so precarious and always falling off...the shelf was still standing there, and the towels hadn't even been blown to the ground.
Next to that though a lariat had been hanging on a post, and it was still hanging but had been totally straightened out. If you know how lariats are, they are quite stiff and circular as to make them easier to rope with.
The roof had been partially blown off the feedroom but all the containers holding my medicines inside hadn't been touched.
Just a few feet away from the line of the destruction, absolutely not a limb of a tree had been damaged.
Some have said to me that it was good that it didn't touch the house, and we weren't injured...but I said I worry more about my "kids" than myself...I never even thought of my own safety. In fact, when the big roar hit, all I could think of was protecting my dog, Shanna...in case, the house went. :roll:

[Brigitte]

Looking at the pictures, you are very lucky no one was seriously hurt! Scary!

[Laura S]

Wow, you must have been devastated when you first saw all that. Yikes, what a scary thing. I'm glad everybody is ok. It's amazing the horses didn't get hurt, other than scratches.

[pasosx3]

Carol, I am so sorry to hear about the tornado damage! I live near Pensacola, FL and I've lost track of how many Hurricanes we've been thru. The hassles of the Aftermath are a pain to deal with. I really empathize. At least with Hurricanes there's a warning. Tornadoes just hit so suddenly. I am glad no one got hurt and your animals are OK. That's what is really important!

[Carol Nelson]

Yes, you are so right ...nothing else mattered to me but to find out if my animals had survived the storm.
I really couldn't believe it myself when I saw the damage...that none of them had been seriously hurt.
Down the road a neighbor to the north of me had a bedroom window blown out of her mobilehome. I didn't see anymore damage than that there but to the north of her I heard chainsaws running so some must've had fallen limbs. To the south of me, my next door neighbor, Cheryl, had the roof blown off her barn and a big tree down but none of her horses injured either. To the south of her, the couple have an underground shelter but the pressure from the winds was so strong they couldn't get the door open, so they ran to an inside room, just before the window blew out in their bedroom. None of their horses were injured either even though they are kept in small pens with no shelter.
Doug took the tractor out and moved several large trees that were blocking our road so that traffic could resume going in and out.
An experience I do not want to ever relive. :(

[jodiTowne]

:shock:

[pasosx3]

Carol, again, I am so sorry about all the damage. On the bright side, things like this really bring neighbors closer together--the 'shared experience' and all. Looks like you still have power and water? Always a good sign. Just be careful during the clean up that you guys don't get hurt. You can get exhausted very quickly and that leads to accidents! Take care! Pace yourselves!

[Barbwire]

Thanks for posting the pics, they stopped me from posting a thread complaining about all the new snow we are getting. ;-)

[Terri]

Wow Carol. I am so glad you and your horses are okay. I grew up in southern Ohio and I know 1st hand how scary and devasting a tornado is. I am so very glad you are okay.

[Linda Y]

Holy cow!
Well, that ought to kick in my nightmares about tornadoes again.
I had no idea from your original posting that the damage was that extensive. And like was mentioned, the aftermath and cleanup are the worst part...as you said, where do you begin, it is so overwhelming!
Thank God the horses weren't hurt any worse than they were. It could have been SO bad.

[Edurne]

so glad you are all safe :smile:

[LynnG]

Its good to hear no one was hurt. Mother Nature doesn't seem to pick and choose very well. Tornados can be the worse.

[JennLM]

Holy Cow! Large dustdevils scare me. I'd be such a nut if we had a tornado. So happy to hear no one and none of the kids were hurt. Kinda weird how it missed some things but not others.

Thanks for sharing the pics. How scarey. :shock:

[CarolU]

OMG Carol....HOW SCARY!!! :shock: What a terrifying expereince. I'm also glad no one was hurt and all the damage was structural, but WOW, how close you all came! Whenever I see these things on the news I worry about all those in the path. I'm SOOOOO glad you are all alright.

:hug

[Jasfino]

Thank God your okay!!(((hugs))) Tornados are my worst nightmares..

[Carol Nelson]

Thanks, guys...for your support and thank you, Leila, for your comforting phone call.
Cleanup is well underway. The guys worked two twelve hour days this weekend cleaning up debri and the chainsaw got a good workout. I picked up the smaller stuff and fed the men... ;-)
Insurance adjuster is lined up to come today. We will see if any of this gets paid for...the buildings are so old, it may not, but they are listed on the insurance policy. But a friend has offered us tons of free unused metal siding so we will take all we can use and probably fix it ourselves.
I'm suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome, I guess...Linda Y, you will probably understand this. I feel like my whole world has been shaken because how do you prevent or control this from happening again? You don't... :roll:
I don't know what I will do during the next thunderstorm...probably dive under the nearest bed. :-?
Anyway, I appreciate all the concern and good wishes from my BB family...thanks again so much!

[GregM]

Glad you and yours are all safe. Good luck getting back to normal.
Tornados are so unpredictable. I was in Albany, GA last Wednesday under a tornado watch and it was 78 degrees and sunny. Guess you never know.
Glad you're OK.

[Carol Nelson]

Greg, when we fed at 7:00 Friday night, it was 84 and sunny...but very still and heavy in the air. This thing struck at about 8:05. It had started lightning off to the northeast but wasn't even storming here. I had just shut my computer down and Doug had gotten in the shower. It hit so suddenly and with such force and was over so quickly that we didn't even know what had happened. It was when we saw the damage that we realized it was a tornado. We only got a half inch of rain, but that was good since the roof on the haybarn went. Luckily since hay is short, we only had twenty bales in the barn, and the wind the next day dried out any moisture they had taken on during the storm. I am so glad we didn't have it full of new hay!

You know, the more I analyze the whole situation, I realize how really lucky we were!

[paintedhorizon]

OMG Carol! I have always been scared of tornadoes, which is why I will never move where they are! I can handle a hurricane MUCH better!

[Linda Y]

I'm suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome, I guess...Linda Y, you will probably understand this. I feel like my whole world has been shaken because how do you prevent or control this from happening again? You don't... :roll:
I don't know what I will do during the next thunderstorm...probably dive under the nearest bed. :-?
Anyway, I appreciate all the concern and good wishes from my BB family...thanks again so much!

You are right, Carol...you don't. I absolutely DREAD hurricane season. When we got the strong winds from your storm yesterday, I was in the barn cringing when gusts hit. For quite a while after Katrina, just rain would send me into a silent panic. I would find myself walking the house looking for leaks!!
I lived my young years in Illinois, land of the tornado. Went through a lot of them, hence the reason I still have nightmares about tornadoes.
Let yourself panic, and don't worry about someone making fun of you doing it. This was very tramatic for you, and only time and no more tornado threat will ease it. Hugs to you.

[DebbieS]

I'm so glad you and all of your animals are alright! Tornados are scary - no warning at all. We had one here in August 2000. It took most of our house roof, our entire hay shed (except for the telephone poles), our camper, and lots of small buildings. Luckily, we were all okay. The horses seem to know to get the heck away from buildings - pretty smart. I found them in the corner of one of the pastures far away from trees and buildings.

Glad you're okay, Carol!!

[Bonnie M]

Wow!! :shock: So glad you and all the critters made it through okay!

We got the bad weather Sunday morning, I am terrified a tornado will hit, so I kept listening and waiting for one. One did touch down in the area.

That is a hard call to make, whether or not to leave the horses in or out. I will always leave them out during hurricanes, rather them get hit by flying debris than have the barn collapse on them.

They are pretty smart during a storm. Watched mine when a hurricane came through here. They were all by a big pine tree, they started to run I swear before the tree snapped in half! Landed right where they were standing. It was like they knew before it actually happened.

[PASOFAN]

So glad you and the horses are all ok. Just terrible those tonados! Thanks for posting pics really puts it into light.. Hope the clean up goes smoothly for you....

[Mellifluous]

Oh my!

That must have been so scary. :shock: I am glad to hear that everyone made it through without serious injury.

[Moniece Dickerson]

Oh Carol I thank God you all and all of the animals are okay!!!!!!!!!THAT is SCARY!!!!!I do hope your insurance company does well by you even if you all do the work yourselves!!!I am just so sorry you and your family had to go through that!!!Your friend,Moniece

[Terry Wallace]

WOWZER Carol..thanks for taking the time to post all the photos....
You weren't just a kidin' about the damage done.

We had walloping rain last night...I have one flooded pen....like a "lake" and had to move one horse to a new location on the property ... but no damaging wind so far....

What a LION of an April we are having...I surely hope it calms down by MAY so I can get some grass seed planted without it blowing away...

Did your grass you planted survive and come up this spring?

[Carol Nelson]

I weren't lyin', ;-) :lol:

Oh, I've been meaning to take photos of my ryegrass pasture...of course, after 22 inches of rain, the ryegrass is knee high and I've had to take the mares off of it except for little bits at a time...

Which brings me to my next question I'm going to post...can you bale ryegrass???

[britzlove]

Wow Carol wish I had seen this sooner.

I'm sending all your well-wishing, and positive force back...your post seems light hearted and I'm glad everyone is safe...but figure you'll need the love coming back!

:hug

[Carol Nelson]

You know, Britz...Saturday I went great guns cleaning up metal and boards with nails sticking out from all the pastures so no horses would get hurt from stuff laying around (despite all that, some still got nicks from mesquite branches down) so I kept busy and didn't think about what just happened. But Sunday and Monday were real tough days...I think I went through what one might call post traumatic stress syndrome...sigh. I suppose the awareness of how lucky we really were, and how out of control we are with what happens to us...especially where weather is concerned...really began to hit me. Today's the first day I feel somewhat normal again.
Imagine you will feel something like that with your situation too once the numbness wears off.
Thanks for the love sent, kiddo...I truly appreciate all I can get... :D