David Gothard

TORNADO!!!

DECEMBER 2, 2006
A tornado ripped through the woods and down our road Friday night, leaving trees toppled and snapped in half, roofing torn off and sheds, trailers and barns knocked off their foundations, porches ripped frome homes, debris everywhere. We were 40 miles north of home, at our son's opening season basketball game (they defeated a heavily favored team) when we received a phone call from a friend in the fire department saying there was a report that a tornado leveled our next door neighbors house. Launched into an immediate panic, we managed to verify the report to be false. The tornado did in fact strike down the road further. For a brief while, my head swam of images of  our elderly widow neighbor up in a tree, our pool filled with building material, and all our magnificent pine trees lying on their side. The following are photos we took of our road early the next morning (glorious clear aftermath). Neighbors gave us the classic description of a deafening sound of an approaching freight train and terrifying cracks of trees falling all around them. You can follow the path it took as it cleared a perfect swath through the woods. We felt it disrespectful to take pics of damaged homes, but did record some of the destruction to nature.