These are some of the pictures I took shortly after the tornado on Friday, May 2, 2008. We had spent our first night (in the motorhome, in the motorhome garage) on Thursday night. We never even got to sleep in the house. We were within days of being able to move in. We were just waiting for the septic system to be finished. The septic was in, the lines just had to be dug and placed but it had been too wet.
On Monday the pool table had been delivered, Tuesday all the furniture. Wednesday the movers arrived with our stuff out of storage from California. On Thursday they were installing our t.v.'s and were going to finish them on Friday.
Friday morning, our neighbor, Sandra, called us and told us we should get into our safe room. Don told her jokingly, "we have no door" (her husband is supposed to be making it for ours and theirs) when she said "get into it anyway". Don knew by the tone of her voice
that she meant business. We headed outside and into the safe room. I was in my nightgown. We took Tess with us. Furby stayed in the motorhome because his carrier was in the car, which was outside the RV garage. We had our cell phones, a radio and ourselves. We sat on paint cans, listening to the radio. I moved a couple of paint cans that had paint thinner out of the safe room but still under the house. We weren't worried. We were listening and the radio told us it was heading to Greers Ferry. We didn't know if they meant the lake or the city. We were thinking the lake was a BIG area. We were just about ready to head out when the wind started to pick up, rain was going horizontal (we were looking out of a 4" pipe that was there for ventilation). Just about that time, Don wanted to look so I traded places with him. All of a sudden the lights went out and we could tell that the wind had picked up. I remember Don grabbing me and we heard what we thought was our patio furniture moving above us. The gates to the underneath of the house had slammed shut a few minutes before and we thought we were locked in. We called our
neighbors to let us out, still not knowing what had happened above. Sandra said the guys were outside looking around and she told me that she had forgotten to get the dogs out of their pen. About the same time, Don pushed the gates open and we went upstairs. The first thing we saw was our patio furniture upside down, a couple of our potted plants broken, but we still had no idea what we were heading into.
Once in the house I think we were already in shock to see our breakfast room in disarray, the front half of the game room a mess and we headed to the RV garage to make sure that the RV was o.k. and that Furby was alright as well. Once inside the garage Don asked me if I had put the door up then we realized that the door was totally gone. We walked up to the door and looked out and saw our car. That's about the same time we looked out and saw our ENTIRE 4 car garage completely gone and everything in it gone as well. We had no idea that we had a great big hole in the middle of our roof. We knew that rain was coming in
everywhere, but I don't think it sunk in for some time. About that time we started moving furniture to keep it from getting wet. It seemed like everytime we moved it, we had to move it again because it would start "raining" from somewhere else. In looking through the house it appeared that the master bedroom only had a broken window, the master bath looked o.k. (until a short time later when water started coming out of the lights and speakers) the walk-in closet appeared to stay dry inside. Heading into Don's study it seemed like it was only getting wet from the broken window...same with the dining room. The front door was open but half of it was gone. We still haven't exactly found it! We found the grill which was bent quite a bit, but not the actual door!
Going down the long hallway, windows were broken and the wood blinds that had been installed just two nights before were twisted and broken. The first guest bedroom and the bathroom in between the bedrooms appeared o.k. with nothing broken. The third bedroom had a gap around the top of the wall, where the garage had come apart from it. Once I opened the door into the garage it really sunk in when you saw the outside and not the inside of the garage! I remember making several calls, the first being to Troy, our contractor. I just remember telling him and everyone else that I talked to that the house was destroyed and the garage was gone - totally gone along with everything inside it. My next call was to Kim and Tim who were heading for Greers Ferry for the day with Ashleigh. It took me some time to convince Kim that I wasn't joking. I finally asked to talk to Tim and told him that it was gone. I think I talked to Kim 5 or 6 more times before she finally decided to believe me! My next call was to my mom...I told her the same thing!
It was only hours later when the troops rolled in and started helping us to dig out both inside and out! I can't thank the many people who were there within what seemed like minutes to offer their help and support. Don and I were totally in shock and didn't accomplish much in the next few hours. Thank God we had someone to ram rod the clean up effort! Troy, our number one contractor, was there pitching in in a very short time, Janet & Mark Baker took charge and ran with it! John & Kim who own the RV park came very quickly after I called asking them if we could come back. Christy, a friend of Janet's came bringing food which proved to be very handy, Troy's wife, Louise brought her car, a cooler with drinks and cookies, Kim & Tim came as well, but they were both in shock as soon as they saw the house and realized what had happened. They definetely took up our slack!! I hope I don't forget anyone else, but this is who I remember...Brian and Art, our wonderful framers, Kim's parents, Sharon and Lee, and another couple that are staying at Golden Pond! Our painters showed up enmasse (that's another story). There were several other people that I can't tell you who they were!
On Saturday we had another great crew, with many of the same people. Brian brought his wife and two girls, Crystal and Ashley. Let me tell you...those two girls worked hard and dug deep! They not only found things in the rubble, but they had the concrete slab "organized" with stuff! Bill & Kathy Corroum, Monaco friends of ours came to help as well! John also brought a couple of guys and they removed our tow bar and M&G braking system off the car after Don had mentioned something about it. We didn't have to ask...just mentioned our concern! The guy who installed our wood flooring, Cris brought his son Andrew and they helped us box up and load the pods that we had delivered for our "stuff" to be put in. Chris later brought spaghetti, salad and bread that his wife made for all of us. Let's see, I know that Kenny, our tile installer sent his son to help on one of those days, but honestly, I can't remember which one! The people around here have been awesome. The Salvation Army has been by several times with lunch, breakfast, drinks. Local citizens have also offered the same. The owner of one of the local grocery stores brought several bags of ice and water on Saturday. The Red Cross has also been here. On Monday, we even had the governor of Arkansas, Governor Beebe, stop by to "visit" us and observe all the damage. Don and I both shook his hand! On Monday, the health department came by and gave us all tetenus shots! I know that Sherry, another friend of Janet's was also here and I know that I'm forgetting several people! My mom came one day but I didn't really like her to be here since there are so many dangerous obstacles EVERYWHERE! Kim, Tim and even Ashleigh one day, have been here day after day helping whereever they can! Tim and Kim even organized one of the pods, taking everything out, removing the insulation stuck on everything and actually took a full pod and condensed it to about 1/3!! Everyone has been awesome! Mark & Janet have generously offered not only their garage, but their beautiful lake home as well. Mark was instrumental in getting all of our furniture out of the house and into storage, safe and sound.
So now we continue to dig out and find anything we can in the rubble. Don and I are exhausted but ready to move on. We can't even begin to say "thank you" to not only our family and friends, but our sub-contractors who have gone above and beyond! Everyone has been absolutely awesome. Thank you seems like such a little word!
It hasn't all been tornado "stuff". We've gone to a catfish fry at Janet & Mark's (NO I did NOT eat the catfish). The picture shows Mark, Troy (our contractor) and Tracy, Troy's youngest daughter. They had been out to check the "yo-yos". We had never heard of these kinds of "yo yos". I think most of the catfish ended up coming from the store and not out of the lake!
