What can I say about the tornadoes of April 2011? I think at this point we are all still in shock from the week we have had and can't really say much.
One thing I can say is that we are VERY blessed to have not suffered any damage. I don't know how it could have been anything other than divine intervention! Thank God for keeping us safe!
My in-laws on the other hand are safe, but wow do they have some damage to their property. They still have a house and no one was injured, but there is A LOT of work to be done to get them back to normal. They probably had anywhere from 40 to 50 trees fall around their property. Some landed on barns, fences, the garden, the yard and powerlines. Here are some pictures I took of the damage.
Looking out into the pasture. Normally you can see Mimi's house from here.
Papaw's barn covered in trees.
The neighbor's trampoline laying in the garden.
The first tree Papaw planted in the yard.
Papaw's first apple tree he planted.
Looking from the chicken pen across the garden.
The small red out building.
Trees between the small red building and the barn.
The red barn covered in trees.
The other side of the small red out building.
Papaw's shed
The pine tree laying across the apple trees and garden fence.
The pine tree laying across the apple trees and the garden fence. Before you could see the garden from here.
The tree laying across the front yard.
Trees on the fence to the pasture.
Trees laying across the front yard by the end of the driveway.
The guys were able to cut these trees laying across the end of the driveway before I got there. I wouldn't have been able to get in the driveway before!
The view at the end of the driveway looking up the street towards Mimi's.
The poor mail boxes.
The entrance to the driveway.
Another view looking up the street. You can't really see them in this picture, but the powerlines were laying all over the place and some were hanging very low from the poles. (These low hanging lines later on caused a horrible car accident where a truck flipped over and caught fire. Thankfully no one was injured.)
The girls playing in the fallen tree in the front yard.
Side of the house that was hit by a large limb that ripped through the roof.
The hole the limb left in the ceiling of the play room.
The rain dripping through the ceiling!
These are just some of the images from the day. I wish I could have captured the feeling from walking around in all of it. It was just a surreal feeling. Thankfully everyone is safe and unharmed! Trees can be cut and barns can be rebuilt! And with all the help my in-laws have had over the past few days, the clean up is going a lot faster than anyone could have imaged! Thanks to everyone that helped!
