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.

Remnants

The last time I was in Deltaville, 

I took some time to walk through the plowed field just to see what, if anything, was there.

Among the tall grass I found:

Someone's crab steamer

and someone's basketball.

Both remnants of the tornado that touched down in our little town 2 years ago.
The rebuilding process is still ongoing.
The Baptist church as a new steeple
and most of the homes have been rebuilt
(some much larger than they were originally- and thus removing the quaint feel of Jackson Acres).
The trees, of course, will never be replaced in my lifetime, and that hurts the most.
But my feelings of hurt and devastation can not compare with
what those in Oklahoma must be feeling.

My thoughts and prayers go out to those affected by Mother Nature.

 

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

Progress?

We have a roof.

We have new flooring on the way.

We don't have a ceiling in the master bedroom yet,

though the contractor should be taking care of that shortly.

There are still some unsightly dead trees around. 

Makes me want to buy a chainsaw and learn how to use it.

Insurance doesn't always provide money to remove destroyed trees.

(These aren't our trees, just dead ones that make it look painful still)

At night the air is heavy with wood smoke.

There used to be a house here.

There used to be 3 houses, a shed and a carport between the house on the left

 and the pile of rubbish in the foreground.

Two of the three have new foundations.

The new view looking out to the river Rivah.

Dueling dozers.

The area on the far shore is where the Hurd's house used to be.

This building is a garage. 

Yeah, I thought it was a house at first too.

And that upside down flag is a sign of distress if my memory of maritime flag symbols serves me. 

And yes, I'd say it's still a bit distressing in Jackson Acres.



Updates

I have returned from my annual 4th of July trip to Deltaville. 

 I have not yet uploaded the photos I took of the progress of repairing the tornado damage in the community, nor have I uploaded the photos and video of the Heritage Day Parade and festivities. 

I promise tonight I will do both. 

In between packing up my things to move into the new place in a week and a half. 

 Hopefully. 

This is not a Test!

Last night my family and I went out to dinner because we lost power at home.  While waiting to order, my dad's phone rang and after seeing who was calling said, "This isn't going to be good." It wasn't.

Our Deltaville neighbor was calling to tell us that tornadoes had come through Deltaville and we had a tree on top of our house there.  We were fortunate.  Our neighbor is missing his roof, several out buildings, his carport and his dog.  He knows the dog is alive as he was able to locate her, however, she took off before he could catch her. 

I immediately checked on those I knew and loved down in the area.  Thankfully they were all OK and had missed the tornadic activity.  And I am thankful to them for offering their help in any form they could- opening their homes to my parents who are headed down there, spreading the word, sharing information...  Once more I realize how blessed I am to have found such good people!

In the meantime, we received another call from a cousin who's wife and daughter were there in Deltaville.  They were lucky and had no damage to their home.  They said the tornado sounded like a freight train just as it's always described.  And it left behind a mess.  Several homes no longer have rooves.  There are some large pines that have been snapped off.  One house near the boat ramp is gone.  Just- gone.  The church at the end of the road was destroyed and according to the information we got, there were people screaming for help in that area.  Our cousin said his wife and daughter were unable to get to the area where our house is because of the large amount of debris. 

At last report, the road into Deltaville was impassable after the Deltaville Market (who I heard stayed open to serve Emergency Workers- kudos to you!).  I have not heard about other areas of the town.  The information I have is only for the very small Jackson Acres community on Jackson Farm Lane and Sturgeon Point Loop.

Gloucester was also hit by tornadoes last night at the same time as Deltaville.  Unfortunately, 3 deaths have been reported there along with some severe damage to schools and homes.

Please keep everyone in your thoughts and prayers and if you live nearby and have a chainsaw and some gas... I'm sure there's more than enough to cut up.

And again THANK YOU to everyone who has offered to help and who has been spreading the word.

Crazy Weather

In keeping with the theme of unwanted/weird weather (and I won't mention the 4 letter S word even though we're supposed to get MORE tomorrow night...)

One April, I think it was 2006, the family assembled in Deltaville for Easter.  It was very warm out so I let Bridget take the kayak out on the creek.  While my aunt, uncle and I were sitting on the swing watching her paddle around, we noticed the wind pick up.  I called Bridget to head back in and we hauled the kayak back up on dry land.  The sky grew ominously black though we didn't get any rain.  As the clouds blew past, we noticed a strange cloud forming on the tail end of the storm clouds.....

It was an awesome sight to see.  It never touched down where we could see, but did end up producing a waterspout further up the river near the Bay.  There were no reports of injury or damage thankfully.
PS in one photo I think you might be able to see one of my well known flying monkeys.