Tornado

I see there are a number of threads about flooding from Monday, but none about the tornadoes. I've been off the BBS since Monday so I don't know if anyone else was affected. Anyone else hit?

My house was hit by a tornado around 1-1:30 on Monday. I live in the Third Ward, 3 or 4 blocks from the Episcopal Church on Southmore that apparently everyone has seen on the news (I didn't get to watch the news, but drove by the church -- what did they do to deserve that?). My wife and dog were at home at the time, but both emerged unscathed. I drove home soon after to deal with the aftermmath.

The damage to my house wasn't too bad actually. Six window panes were smashed, about 90 feet of fence was blown down, a hole was punched through the siding in the attic (and broke a 2x4 inside) and we had other nicks in the siding, trim and shingle.

The destruction around me was incredible though. My neighbor to the east is a house for rent (unoccupied, fortunately). It had a storage area on ground level and the living quarters above. The bottom floor collapsed and dropped the second story down onto the ground. My western neighbor had a huge old oak tree (which apparently was all rotted out in the trunk) that fell over and crushed his neighbor's wooden house (no injuries). Both neighbors were renting from the same owner, so the property owner has only himself to blame for leaving a dead tree standing.

My neighbor to the northwest was a church. It lost its steeple and some roof. Next to it to the east was a warehouse that lost the roof and a wall. Apparently, he was just storing junk anyway. Next to it on the east was a run down small apartment buidling that lost its roof and a wall. A 10'x15' section of its roof landed in my backyard. Around the corner from me (northwest), a wood house was shifted off its piers and turned 30 degrees. Then a wall was ripped off, exposing the guts of the house to the rain. Just north of that house, a nice 2-story brick house lost a quarter of its roof (the owner had new wood and felt down by the end of day Tuesday). Trees were down everywhere, blocking streets, leaning on houses, crushing cars. Power lines were down everywhere, including in my backyard. And all the streets were completely submerged in water.

The response was great though. Fire trucks, Reliant Energy, cops, tree-cutters, and neighbors were all out all over the place trying the get the situation under control. They had the trash men going through the neighborhood today picking up all the trash that have been dragged to the curb.

It has been a mess. We had 4 people from my church come on Tuesday to help clean up. We had my fence to remove, plus that big section of roof, plus someone else's roof in smaller pieces, long sheets of corrugated tin from the warehouse roof and tons and tons of board and shingle and roofing asphalt and tree limbs and broken glass everywhere. The house is splattered with mud and felt and insulation.

Things are mostly cleaned up and the electricity came on for me last night, though the apartment across the street is still in the dark because the landlord hasn't fixed his part yet. Now, I just have to deal with the insurance company. Already, I'm getting vibes that they won't pay the cost of fixing the windows (because they are double-paned) and I'm getting conflicting advice on whether I should be making a claim or not, considering the damage is likely less than the deductible. And now, I have to walk the dog and can't let her wander the yard because she'll get out into the street and get in dog-fights. Anyway, an interesting experience all around and though it might end up costing me (and potentially hurting the neighborhood), I am very thankful it wasn't worse, which it easily could have been (can you imagine a 10'x15'section of roof hitting the side of a house instead of landing in the yard?). I'll have to go read the dead threads about the flooding now, I suppose.