Where is Pecos Bill when you really need him?

[Faron]

Got a call from my daughter and then a customer this afternoon warning me a funnel cloud was heading for Otwell, where my sawmill is located.  Within a few minutes a f2 twister came screaming in, right over us.  You may not remember, but a year ago last Christmas a heavy snowfall collapsed our building. We started rebuilding this January, and had a brand new 48 by 100 building almost completed.   We didn't have the metal on the east side yet. 
We  saw the funnel cloud coming, and hunkered down on the west side of my pickup, which was parked in the building.  When the tornado hit us, we could hear debris hitting the west side of the building, and at the same time lumber started peeling off stacks in the southeast corner  of the lot, and coming back toward us in the building.  Told my Dad, "We're in the middle of a twister!"    His reply was kind of a grunted "Unh hunh."   Didn't seem he was much interested in conversation. :D  I watched as the building across the road from us was demolished.  Roofing, limbs, metal, and debris swirled around the building.  I guess the good news is our bulding took a direct hit from an f2 twister and is still standing.  Bad news is we didn't escape unscathed.  Debris hit the brand new metal and beat it up in several places.  Worst of all, the twister shoved in the south end of the building about three feet.  Looks like we will have to tear the entire south end off and start over.  It looks like rest of the building is still straight, though.  I'll take some pictures tomorrow. 
Soon as the wind stopped, I put on a heavy winter jacket and headed on foot for the elementary school, where my other daughter is school nurse.  I feared there might be damage and injuries there, but they were out of the tornado's path.  Before I got there , some really nasty hail started falling, and I felt some real pain through that hooded winter coat. :D
So, the situation from Otwell, and Buffalo Trace Hardwoods is lots of damage over most of town, but no one killed, and only a few minor injuries.  I was asked, "Do you think God has it in for us?"  My reply was, "More like he was looking out for us!"

[UNCLEBUCK]

You are very lucky Faron . Enjoy your free life and get that building back standing tall !   I am sure everyone has seen the pictures of 2x4's in cement blocks from a tornado !  You keep a eye on the weather 

[crtreedude]

Glad you came out of it is almost one piece. 

I always think about twisters (and hurricanes) when someone ask me how I can live here. We don't have either (but we do have an active volcano..., and earthquakes)

Good building if it survived a direct hit.

[Jeff]

Thank goodness you are O.K.  I have never seen an actual Tornado in person and hope that I never do.  Tornados are certainly possible in this area, but we sure dont get them with the frequency as they do to the south.

[Mooseherder]

Thats pretty scary stuff. Nice to hear everybody survived.
We hate hurricanes and its aftermath, but at least we know
when they're coming. My house is stick built rather than the traditional
Block Homes that are common around here. We do our best to prepare but
when Hurricane Francis got ahold of my 15 year Roof Shingles and Ridge vent a couple years ago at 2 in the morning, I thought we may have some major problems. That vent pounded the house for a few hours. Turns out we were fortunate to only have that along with screens, fence
and some trees to deal with.  My biggest Pine that was also close to the house splittered at the base from rocking back and forth and fell in the opposite direction of the house.  :'(
That was only the beginning though, because being in the grocery business and with all our stores without power for days. All perishables had to be throw out and then restocked in a few hundred of our stores. Times like that bring out the best in people and also the worst in some people. Having been on these recovery teams for Charlie, Francis, Jeanne and Wilma, we hope to have some reprieve this year cause it ain't no fun.
On a good note the new Roof my Wife and I put on held up for WILMA last year. 8)

[Faron]

A few pics......

This is the front (north) side of our building.

[Faron]

Inside view

[sawguy21]

Glad to hear you ar o.k. I saw a twister and it's aftermath in Alberta in 1987, a very unusual event there. Don't want to relive that one.

[Faron]

Oops, I conked out before I got all the pictures done last night. :
The twister sucked the back wall in about a foot and a half.  The 2x4 is a brace tying the bottom chords of the trusses together.  It shoved the poles over.  They are over 4' in the ground, and tamped with rock.



It collapsed the chimney on the furnace room on the building across the street from us and blew the air conditioner off the roof.

[Faron]

This building is about 50 yards east of our building.  I watched as the twister lifted the roof and tore it to piece

Several trailers around town were turned over, including one pretty big RV.

[Faron]

Our Ford loader worked all day yesterday loading trucks and moving debris.

The state and county trucks won't be back until tuesday.  They have been hauling debris over 20 miles to a landfill.  We are tempted to haul tree debris over the weekend to Dad's farm about a half mile from town and burn it.  I'm afraid the IDEM might come in and object. :  Guess we could burn it as we hauled it, so if they came in to play we wouldn't end up with a big pile we couldn't get rid of.   :  Oh well, off to work we go.  I'll post more pics later if i can.

[flip]

HOLY CROW!  I drove by a few weeks ago and saw your building almost done looked good.  I was at the funeral home in Jasper (great place to be in a tornado : ) someone said Otwell got hit.  I pictured Buchta's trailers on top of your new saw haus and boards from there to Ireland.  Glad to hear you and pops and the shed are all standing.  All we got was hail and wind and a deluge of rain.

Why is it you Pike Co guys are are always gettin' blasted?  Ya livin' wrong or what? ??? : ;)

Flip

[Faron]

Must not be paying the preacher enough! ;) :D

[Faron]

couple more pics:                                                                                                                                                                                                           


These are a couple of shingle oaks that root wadded.  I got the logs from them.  I'll have to split them before I can saw them.






This house trailer was wadded up and thrown up against another.  The other trailer is likely totaled as well.  The sheriff mentioned on TV news that the occupant was safe.  Luckily he was residing in the county jail when the twister hit. ;D   At least 5 trailers were destroyed.  A few more heavily damaged by debris and limbs.

Our building had been a topic of conversation in the local convenience store loafing area while we were building it.  We used heavy utility poles, heavy construction, and 2x8 trusses on 5' centers.  Several regulars commented earlier in event of a twister while they were in town, they were heading for the sawmill.   ;D  I suggested that might be a bad idea, as that many liars in my building might invite a lightning strike. ;) ;D  Yesterday I told them I wasn't going to listen to anything any of them had to say.  Told them they had convinced me I had way overbuilt the building and wasted money.  "Then the first gust of wind that came along tore it up!" :D :D