Anniversary

Hard to believe it's been nearly two years since I've written a post here.  It hasn't been from lack of Deltaville fodder, just a lack of time for sitting and writing.  But today I wanted to take a moment to celebrate an anniversary.

Ten years ago tonight, an F2 tornado touched down in Deltaville from Porpoise Cove Rd across Rt.33 down Jackson Farm Lane and across our little Jackson Acres community.  And I bet now you're questioning my choice of "celebrate".  Despite all the destruction the storm left in its path, not one person in Deltaville died. Not one person was missing. Not one person received an injury more severe than scrapes and scratches.  The same goes for pets. 

And in the days and weeks following the storm, the community came together. Those who were unaffected showed up and offered aid to those who were affected. Neighbors helped neighbors, people in nearby communities offered help to Deltaville.  

And that, Ladies and Gentlemen, is something to celebrate.

We've all had a doozy of a year.  

Between riots, injustices, politics and pandemics, it seems like people are quicker to point a finger than to offer a hand these days.  Despite that, I'm confident that when the chips are down, your neighbors (whether actual physical neighbors or not) will have your back.  

So instead of mourning the loss of property and the landscape, I'm going to choose to celebrate the miracles that happened 10 years ago.

God Bless Deltaville.

Here are the original posts about the tornado:

This is Not a Test
Miracle Monday
The Bright Side
Our House Not So Very Fine
Good Friday

Three Years

Today marks 3 years since the tornado went through Deltaville. 

 A boat in the middle of a field

 Telephone pole sheared off at the bottom

 This pine tree was literally twisted by the twister

 The tennis courts

 My dad demonstrating just how large that root ball is

The area where our shed used to be.

No, the tornado didn't dump junk in the yard, 

that was in the shed.

Note the neighbor's vehicle with the large hole in the windshield

I believe that was from our paddle boat being thrown into it.

 Zoar Baptist Church with a large bite out of the middle

 A house that was tossed into the creek

 Removing the large oak trees off of our house

 House behind us

the pool

There was a lot of destruction, but there was no loss of life.

No one was even injured-

not even the various pets that were sucked out of homes 

or buried under debris.

Things changed though, and that's the hardest to deal with (for me).

I'd rather Deltaville stay the same as it was in the late 70's and 80's.

Instead it just seems to keep changing and growing and 

getting too big for the britches I'd prefer it wear.

A "funny" coincidence- delta Δ  is the mathematical symbol for change.

You can read about the tornado on these posts:

This is Not a Test!

Miracle Monday

The Bright Side

Our House- Not So Very Fine

The More Things Change

Miracle Monday- Rita

Before and After

Remnants

Remnants 2

The First Deltaville Tornado

Remnants 2

While getting ready to kayak, 

Big E broke the ladder and fell into the water waded into the shallow water.  

He stumbled upon an odd object that turned out to be a piece of metal siding. 

 Another remnant of the tornado.

I had him pull it out
(because I wanted to photograph it for this blog we don't needs any kids or dogs getting cut on it).

As it often does, nature had already started taking over.

The Anniversary

One year ago today, Deltaville was hit by an F2 tornado that ripped through churches, trees and homes.  I've always been moved by the news footage of the aftermath of these fierce storms.  But until you live it yourself, you don't quite understand the toll something like this takes on the people involved.  Houses that you've been looking at for your entire 36+ years of existence destroyed.  Trees that you've played under, laid under and climbed twisted and snapped like twigs.  The trees are the worst part for me.  You can't just go buy another 100 year old oak tree and stick it back in the ground.  It's gone, and there won't be another close to it in my lifetime, nor my kids' lifetime. 

Deltaville was blessed that day as there were no casualties, no fatalities, nothing other than minor cuts and abrasions.  Today, whether you've been the victim of a severe weather event or not, take a moment to offer a prayer to those who have been.  To those towns that weren't lucky enough to not suffer death.

  

You can read the posts about the tornado here:

This is Not a Test!

Miracle Monday

The Bright Side

Our House

The More Things Change

Miracle Monday- Rita

Before and After

Before and After



Before- about 3 years ago

After- May 6, 2011



Before- Labor Day Weekend 2010



After- May 6, 2011



 Before About 3 years ago (look at shoreline)

 

After- May 6, 2011



Before- Labor Day Weekend 2010

After- May 6, 2011

Miracle Monday

This is Rita.

This is a photo of Rita's living room after the tornado (she was sitting in the recliner with her owner).

Rita was sucked out of the house by the tornado and her owner was certain she would be found dead.

Once the storm had passed, Rita's owner went outside and spotted her, but she was too scared to come to him and took off for parts unknown.

 She was eventually located on the other side of the creek- and while the other side is close enough to be within hollerin' distance, it's quite a ways to get there by foot. 

Miraculously, Rita only suffered a few minor cuts.

And now she's lovin' life.

The Bright Side

Sunrise on the Rappahannock

Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it

the seed of an equal or greater benefit.

~Napoleon Hill

 Last night I learned that the tornado that went through Deltaville was classified as an F2 tornado.  If you factor in emotional devastation along with the physical devastation, it's more like an F150 (I know the Fujita Scale only goes to 5).

The following diagram shows the path of the tornado and the areas with damage.  The area with all the overlapping red dots surrounded by all the overlapping yellow dots is Jackson Acres.  That's where our house is.

Today we learn if our house will be salvageable or if it will be condemned.  According to another adjuster who was discussing a separate matter with my father (we currently have someone's boat in our field and the adjuster was there for that particular claim), modular homes typically end up being condemned when sustaining the damage our house sustained because they can't take certain stress like a stick built dwelling.

So why did I title this post the bright side?  Because despite everything we've lost (and seriously, there's a lot for me to cry about), there's a lot to gain.  A new house would mean less work for my dad.  There wouldn't be a need for the repairing and repainting and reflooring of the house that is currently there.  In fact, the weekend before the tornado, we were in Deltaville and we were all talking about the things needed to be done around the house.  My father commented he wished they had looked around more for a little better place.  Well, now perhaps we can.

And if the house stays, that's great too.  We already know the decks all have to be replaced.  Normally that would suck, but we've talked for years how we wished we had made the back deck bigger to wrap around to the side door.  Now we have that option. 

The shed is gone.  Dad wanted a new one.  Now the insurance will be buying us one (now if we can only keep it organized and spider free we'll be good).  Sweet!

We've lost pretty much all of our trees.  The ones that are still standing have the top half broken off so they have to come down too.  I am trying not to think about the trees as they were very large and very old and very much a part of our place (I'm a tree hugger- the loss of the trees upsets me).  Still, there is a bright side to that as well.  The last weekend we were there, my dad and I were discussing growing grass.  Not that kind of grass, the kind for a lush green lawn.  I told him that unless we remove trees we won't ever have a nice lawn because there's too much shade and also because the trees pull all available moisture from the ground during dry times thereby killing the grass.  Well, now we have full sun and can grow a nice green lawn.  And with the amount of firewood we now have, we will be able to have bonfires for life.  In fact, my great-great-great grandchildren will be using the wood for bonfires.  And I love a good bonfire.

So, despite all that we've lost, we have so much to gain.