Tornado– Up Close and Personal
Our neighborhood looked like a junk yard, with trees and branches strewn about, splinters poking up at odd angles. stones and leaves and underbrush underfoot and across the roads. These are just a few of the hundred photos I took, all on and around our property:
Electrical power lines that had fallen still lay mangled where they fell. The ground bore tire prints of a bulldozer that had entered and retreated, entered and retreated. Huge cylinders of tree trunks that had already been cut lay next to each other, moved just off the road so that cars could pass. The scent of raw wood hung everywhere.
We did not recognize our own road, except by our mangled mailbox on the corner:
Our property suffered less damage than the dozen other properties along our little penninsula. An immense oak tree had fallen on our deck, the deck my father built eighteen years ago. Another tree dug into the edge of the garage roof. Our pier was intact and only our boat cover was damaged. The second picture (of the house) was taken from the pier.
Most of our neighbors had trees through roofs, boats overturned or missing, and/or piers ripped out of the shore.
Some people had been sleeping when the trees fell on their houses, and they slept through it! Some people had awakened, terrified, and listened to trees falling around them. The sound was like “a barrage of gunshots.”
The wind seemed to haved dug into the ground and ripped the trees out from below their roots:
After we got over the shock, Mom and I worked like donkeys, raking and gathering debris and scattering it deep into the woods. Then, we ran around the city getting estimates for tree removal, deck reconstruction, and boat cover replacement.
The work took three full days. Between teardrops and sore muscles, we gave thanks to Allah for the blessings He’d given us all these years– the lovely summer days, the family gatherings, the friends and relatives who’d shared it all with us, and the hope of more such blessings.
The landscape has been profoundly altered, and cannot be restored except by time and nature. Still, much beauty remains:
Marahm 
How terrifying! a tornado is one of my biggest fears!
But it seems that, after all, you were quite lucky.
Not to have been there when it happened, and oversee-able damage.
The pictures are beautiful, I looove the last one.
I also love your new header.
I can’t get over your description of people who didn’t even wake up!!!!
Wow, seeing the damage must have been heartbreaking. The place is really beautiful, and I’m sure you must have a lot of great memories there. I’m glad to see you are still able to see the beauty in it and look forward. All is not a total loss.
Thanks, Aafke. Yes, we were lucky, indeed. We could have been there, easily. We would have been terrified, too.
Taking the photos was helpful in accepting what had happened, and being thankful for what had not happened. I’m getting into my new camera. The last three photos were taken at dawn, just outside the house. The header was taken outside a hotel in Galway.
Birdpress, thank you. Yes, the memories are many and lovely, especially for Mom, who has spent many summers there with Papa. You are right– all is not lost. In fact, most is not lost.
Masha’Allah you live in a really beautiful place Marahm… sorry to hear about the damage but alhamdu Lillah you are ok and I hope you are able to ifx things back up the way you want them.
Thank you, Umm Ibrahim. We are going to have the deck rebuilt, insha Allah. The landscape, around our house will need many years to grow up again, but the shore is OK, and many nice trees remain.
Nature is Nature. It acts according to the will of Allah, and all we have to do is work with it, and not curse it or feel too angry about what it brings.
I’ll be spending more time there this year, so I hope to submit more photos showing the singular beauty of the area.
So horrible tornado. 😦
I am so sorry for this happened to your property and i pray it restores soon. In Iran we have kind of natural events too.
Very beautiful fotos. I’ll check your fotos on flickr too..
Thanks, Shahrzad. Have you yet written a post on Iran’s natural events? That would be interesting. We hear about earthquakes in that area, but nothing else.
It must be heartbreaking and eerie coming back home to that 😦 hope you manage to clear it out and make your house a home again 🙂
Thanks, Sumera. Yes, we worked for three days to clear the debris, and arrange for tree removal, deck repair, etc. Mom was very pleased with our progress. She has spent many summers there during the past thirty-five years, and feels very sentimental about the place. This year is hard because my father passed nearly five months ago.