Finally got power after tornado.

[Alan W.]

Glad you and family are ok. And finally I know where west of the lakes and south of Possum Trot is.
Sister in law and family dodged a bullet in Bowling Green.
Hopefully the reports that the death toll may be lower than expected are true.

 

[newbury]

I live in Mayfield, KY. Has anything been on news about this disaster?

Only about 24/7!
Glad to see you posting.

I like to see tractors, backhoes and chainsaws on television.
But I'd rather see them for different uses.

Keep us posted if you can about the recovery.

 

[RSKY]

The tornado knocked the biggest water tower down. I believe it was 50 thousand gallons. Pulled the concrete footers out of the ground. The county had been using water stored in multiple other tanks until power to pumps could be restored. Everybody ran out yesterday afternoon. Apparently got enough in the tanks overnight to get some pressure today. Nephew is superintendent over Mayfield Power and Water. His wife finally drug him north to Paducah for a sit down meal yesterday afternoon. Said he was having to concentrate on getting leaks shut off to preserve supply.

 

[RSKY]

I drove into town (not thru destroyed area, too many nails on streets) yesterday to the Lowes store to get another extension cord. Food trucks set up everywhere supplying free food and drink. I had to explain to grandkids (8 & 5) that those were for people who had lost homes and had no place to cook. Our home was still standing. Lowes had semis coming in with generators, heaters, and other things people need. Did not see any price gouging. They had extra employees there helping. Food trucks from everywhere coming in and setting up and handing out food. Don’t know how they are paying for it. One of my nieces picked up “couple of huge bags” of sandwiches, chips, and drinks for their employees and friends working on their three destroyed buildings.

 

[RSKY]

Friday night daughter #2’s husband was frantic to get to the bank he works at to get the servers out. It is the large building in front of the courthouse. Had to go back the next morning at daylight. He was standing beside the building staring at it when his boss asked what was wrong. Said he needed the keys locked in his desk to get into the server room. Then pointed out the desk hanging out the second floor where a window had been. Don’t know how they got in but finally got the servers out and set up somewhere else. They got everything up sometime after midnight so they can open the little branch office on the other side of town. People will need cash.

 

[deezler]

Dang. Thanks for sharing, RSKY. I have seen the images and videos of your town, but it is still quite hard to fathom the full scale of devastation. Seems most of your lives will be focused on cleaning up, rebuilding and trying to find some semblance of normality, for a long long time to come.

 

[RSKY]

Daughter #1’s husband is a firefighter in Murray, KY about twenty miles from Mayfield. He was called in Friday night. He finally got home Saturday afternoon changed uniforms and headed to Moors Marina and Campground which was leveled by the tornado thirty minutes after Mayfield. He has been a volunteer firefighter since he was fourteen and a pro for years. He has seen everything and nothing much bothers him. When he got home Sunday my daughter said it was the first time she had seen him totally shook up.

 

[MossRoad]

We had a large, but short on the ground EF3 go through near hear a while back. 5 years before some of the houses were rebuilt. 15 years later you can still see tree damage. And lots more open spaces. Thick woods were leveled. It takes a long time to just get things cleaned up, let alone rebuilt. However, people are a resilient bunch.

 

[MossRoad]

The pictures keep coming in on the AP website. When the damage is so widespread that it cannot be captured in a single picture, people sometimes don't get the scope of the damage. Incredible power of wind. NBC had some interviews with people that survived taking cover in their houses. One couple got into a closet with their grandchild. 30 seconds later it was over. They came out and the house was gone. Only thing left standing was the closet. Just incredible.

 

[RSKY]

Local county churches have organized groups that are going around cleaning up, serving food and generally making themselves useful. They cleaned up at my sister’s house. Their detached garage was destroyed and two huge trees knocked over. A teenager knocked on the door and asked them where to pile everything. They even climbed in the standing trees to get debris out. I am frankly amazed at the help pouring in from everywhere. But the churches are doing what they do while shunning publicity.