February 2, 2007
Ground Hog Day Tornado Story
Bill & Pat Price - on Lynchburg Loop
As told by Pat
We moved to The Villages on December 29th, 2006 from the Boston area. We were happy to get away from the long cold winters and after a year and one month. We had but one piece of artwork to purchase to complete our new retirement home.
Location Relative to the Funnel Path
The tornado approached our home on Lynchburg Loop from the southwest hitting us after destroying the Mallory Hill Country Club. We were right in the middle of the path and it hit the front of our house.
Before the Tornado
We had been out to dinner at the Copper Pot in Spanish Springs with our next door neighbors, Rod & Roe Pelkey (who also lost their house). Before we left the restaurant our waitress told us that there was a tornado warning for Marion County. We said, “Oh, we’re heading back to Sumter County so we’ll be fine!” (All the while laughing.) We returned to our house for dessert and never turned the TV on.
The Horror
Our dog, Angel, woke me up around 3 am. She was crying at our bedroom door to come inside. I got up and let her in and saw the “non-stop lightning” and thought that I really should go turn the computers off but I was too tired and went back to bed. (Good thing that I didn’t leave our bedroom as it was the only room not damaged.) Angel went under our bed and was crying non-stop which was unlike her. Then I heard what sounded like hail hitting the house and then the “train sound.” After living in Iowa in the ‘80’s, I knew exactly what that sound was and pushed Bill as hard as I could and yelled, “GET IN THE CLOSET!”
When I got to the closet I couldn’t believe that Bill wasn’t right behind me. He was barely awake and now looking out the window! At this point the house was shaking (like an earthquake… we lived in Seattle too!) and there were huge object hitting our house and I was on the floor of the closet holding onto the door jam, ducking at every sound and thinking we were going to be sucked out any moment. Bill finally came into the closet and that’s when the roof tore off the house. The noise was incredible and then it was over. SILENCE.
We were plunged into darkness. We knew it was bad from all that we could hear. Bill crossed our bedroom (me following tightly) and retrieved the flashlight from the nightstand. We opened the bedroom door and peered out.
The Immediate Aftermath
We couldn’t believe our eyes. It was a definite “OH MY GOD” moment. There was an eerie dust settling over the living room and it was raining inside. As Bill shined the flashlight around we saw walls and windows missing, we could see outside thru the roof, and the house was full of debris. We retreated to our closet and immediately got dressed being sure to put on sturdy shoes. Bill made his way out the back thru the lanai as the front was blocked by walls and debris. I followed him closely being careful not to step on anything dangerous. Then we heard the GAS LEAKING. Our next thoughts were, “Oh my God, now we’re going to be blown to smithereens!”
Our lanai looked like a strange horror movie with piles of furniture covered with insulation. Our neighbors started emerging from their homes in stunned silence. Then we heard Roe Pelkey calling our names. We made our way to the street stepping over all kinds of debris. Bill checked on neighbors up the street while Angel and I made our way to Mary Ann and Norman Limieux’s home which became our safe haven until the sun came up and the gas was shut off. (The gas company didn’t arrive until 6:30 am….over three hours after the tornado hit.) Our neighbors across the street, Paul and Judi Messenkeil, were both injured and Judy needed her cuts cleaned and bandaged which I took care of. Their dog, Molly, was missing and that added more anxiety for them until she finally was found by another neighbor on the upper side Lynchburg Loop.
I used a neighbor’s cell phone to call my sister in Massachusetts to have her pass the word to our children that we were OK. It was 6:30 in the morning when I called and her first reaction to hearing my voice was, “Oh, I thought there was something wrong.” (She was relieved that it wasn’t one of her children and wasn’t concerned when she heard my voice.) Then I told her that I had good news and bad news. Good news was that we were alive. Bad news, we lost our house.
Daybreak
As daylight broke we could see the full extent of the damage….roof gone, garage door pushed in and wrapped around our two cars and golf cart. The realization that we were now homeless and without transportation began to sink in. What do we do next? Where do we begin? We needed to rent a car and find a place to live.
In the midst of the destruction and terror about the future we had in balance many “aren’t we lucky moments” beginning with WE”RE ALIVE! Bill climbed into our kitchen thru the pass thru window and found his cell phone and our check book under the debris. The night before for some reason I can’t explain I put my purse inside the cabinet instead of leaving it on the counter. So Bill retrieved it along with my ID’s and cell phone. We also retrieved all our medications as our bathroom suffered minimal damage and our clothes were all inside the closet where we took refuge. Our study had minimal damage (on the back of the house) and we were able to retrieve our pass ports and boarding passes for an upcoming cruise later in February. So we walked away with all that was important for us.
Later that day an AP Reporter took photos of our destroyed house along with Angel and I and the totaled car that landed on our front lawn. The bumper to the car was in our roofless kitchen. This photo appeared on all major news agencies and national newspapers. Many friends and family sent me copies of their local newspapers. I hope that this is the one and only time that a photo of me and a disaster ever appears on CNN or anywhere else. (Side note: I took a photo of the reporter filing his story while seated in our driveway.)
Our neighbors down the street who suffered damages but whose houses were still livable turned out to help us retrieve our possessions. We were loading cars and moving things temporarily to garages around the neighborhood. One of our neighbors from Mullins Path was helping us move and invited us to stay with them for “as long as we needed.” Walter and Alice Byrnes, who we had just met weeks before became our “angels” and took us in along with our dog, Angel, and our cat, April. We will always remember how kind they were to us that day along with all of our neighbors on Lynchburg Loop.
Weeks Later
Once again we were so lucky because after our first night at Alice and Walter’s, friends of the owners of a rental backing up to Alice and Walter’s were checking the house for damage and asked them if they knew of someone who needed housing. Walter said, “Yes!” and before we knew it we had a place to live on Lynchburg Loop just four houses down the street from our damaged home.
Help arrived in many forms. Advance Construction covered what was left of our roof so that we could retrieve our bedroom and study furnishings. A group of young men from the Orlando Mormon church cleaned up debris inside our house. Some other young men removed our garage doors so we could see the condition of our autos…not a pretty site. Neighbors were ready to help with anything and we quickly realized that our top need was boxes to move what we could.
Neighbors came from everywhere to help us move things that could be saved. Another church group brought canned foods and toiletry items. The Red Cross truck was a welcome sight. (We ate a few meals off the truck and were happy for it.) The Village Twirlers (Pat’s a member) turned out to help clean everything from the kitchen that was covered with dirt and tar but worth salvaging. Our neighbors who suffered damage but still had electric and gas invited everyone in for nightly “Tornado Parties” and prepared dinner for 20 or so nightly. (We didn’t have to go grocery shopping for three weeks after the Tornado.)
We had one week to pull things together before a trip to Boston for medical appointments for Bill who has recurring sinus cancer. This was weighing heavy upon us before the Tornado and really put things in perspective for us after the Tornado. Losing our possessions and our house was something we could “fix”….cancer is not so easily fixed as we had learned after the previous three and half year battle.
Postscriptal Thoughts
We went to Boston the end of March and stayed for three months while Bill had proton beam radiation therapy for his cancer. We have our fingers crossed that this time the treatment has worked. The many prayers and loving support of our neighbors and friends got us through this challenging time and we’ll be forever grateful to all of them.
Our insurance carrier (Traveler’s) was very fair with us and we are happy that our home will be ready in September, seven months after that fateful day. (There’s no place like home!) We now have a weather alert radio and are very happy that there is now a radio repeater so that we can receive warnings in our area.
Our dog, Angel, is doing fine except when there is thunder and lightning. She is a little paranoid now. Our cat, April, went to live with my sister-in-law in Leesburg where she is still today.
Bill and I are happy to say that we love living in The Villages and we love our neighbors even more. Our neighbors have become “family” that we know we can count on and they can count on us. We wouldn’t live anywhere else!
Ground Hog Day Tornado Story
Bill & Pat Price - on Lynchburg Loop
As told by Pat
We moved to The Villages on December 29th, 2006 from the Boston area. We were happy to get away from the long cold winters and after a year and one month. We had but one piece of artwork to purchase to complete our new retirement home.
Location Relative to the Funnel Path
The tornado approached our home on Lynchburg Loop from the southwest hitting us after destroying the Mallory Hill Country Club. We were right in the middle of the path and it hit the front of our house.
Before the Tornado
We had been out to dinner at the Copper Pot in Spanish Springs with our next door neighbors, Rod & Roe Pelkey (who also lost their house). Before we left the restaurant our waitress told us that there was a tornado warning for Marion County. We said, “Oh, we’re heading back to Sumter County so we’ll be fine!” (All the while laughing.) We returned to our house for dessert and never turned the TV on.
The Horror
Our dog, Angel, woke me up around 3 am. She was crying at our bedroom door to come inside. I got up and let her in and saw the “non-stop lightning” and thought that I really should go turn the computers off but I was too tired and went back to bed. (Good thing that I didn’t leave our bedroom as it was the only room not damaged.) Angel went under our bed and was crying non-stop which was unlike her. Then I heard what sounded like hail hitting the house and then the “train sound.” After living in Iowa in the ‘80’s, I knew exactly what that sound was and pushed Bill as hard as I could and yelled, “GET IN THE CLOSET!”
When I got to the closet I couldn’t believe that Bill wasn’t right behind me. He was barely awake and now looking out the window! At this point the house was shaking (like an earthquake… we lived in Seattle too!) and there were huge object hitting our house and I was on the floor of the closet holding onto the door jam, ducking at every sound and thinking we were going to be sucked out any moment. Bill finally came into the closet and that’s when the roof tore off the house. The noise was incredible and then it was over. SILENCE.
We were plunged into darkness. We knew it was bad from all that we could hear. Bill crossed our bedroom (me following tightly) and retrieved the flashlight from the nightstand. We opened the bedroom door and peered out.
The Immediate Aftermath
We couldn’t believe our eyes. It was a definite “OH MY GOD” moment. There was an eerie dust settling over the living room and it was raining inside. As Bill shined the flashlight around we saw walls and windows missing, we could see outside thru the roof, and the house was full of debris. We retreated to our closet and immediately got dressed being sure to put on sturdy shoes. Bill made his way out the back thru the lanai as the front was blocked by walls and debris. I followed him closely being careful not to step on anything dangerous. Then we heard the GAS LEAKING. Our next thoughts were, “Oh my God, now we’re going to be blown to smithereens!”
Our lanai looked like a strange horror movie with piles of furniture covered with insulation. Our neighbors started emerging from their homes in stunned silence. Then we heard Roe Pelkey calling our names. We made our way to the street stepping over all kinds of debris. Bill checked on neighbors up the street while Angel and I made our way to Mary Ann and Norman Limieux’s home which became our safe haven until the sun came up and the gas was shut off. (The gas company didn’t arrive until 6:30 am….over three hours after the tornado hit.) Our neighbors across the street, Paul and Judi Messenkeil, were both injured and Judy needed her cuts cleaned and bandaged which I took care of. Their dog, Molly, was missing and that added more anxiety for them until she finally was found by another neighbor on the upper side Lynchburg Loop.
I used a neighbor’s cell phone to call my sister in Massachusetts to have her pass the word to our children that we were OK. It was 6:30 in the morning when I called and her first reaction to hearing my voice was, “Oh, I thought there was something wrong.” (She was relieved that it wasn’t one of her children and wasn’t concerned when she heard my voice.) Then I told her that I had good news and bad news. Good news was that we were alive. Bad news, we lost our house.
Daybreak
As daylight broke we could see the full extent of the damage….roof gone, garage door pushed in and wrapped around our two cars and golf cart. The realization that we were now homeless and without transportation began to sink in. What do we do next? Where do we begin? We needed to rent a car and find a place to live.
In the midst of the destruction and terror about the future we had in balance many “aren’t we lucky moments” beginning with WE”RE ALIVE! Bill climbed into our kitchen thru the pass thru window and found his cell phone and our check book under the debris. The night before for some reason I can’t explain I put my purse inside the cabinet instead of leaving it on the counter. So Bill retrieved it along with my ID’s and cell phone. We also retrieved all our medications as our bathroom suffered minimal damage and our clothes were all inside the closet where we took refuge. Our study had minimal damage (on the back of the house) and we were able to retrieve our pass ports and boarding passes for an upcoming cruise later in February. So we walked away with all that was important for us.
Later that day an AP Reporter took photos of our destroyed house along with Angel and I and the totaled car that landed on our front lawn. The bumper to the car was in our roofless kitchen. This photo appeared on all major news agencies and national newspapers. Many friends and family sent me copies of their local newspapers. I hope that this is the one and only time that a photo of me and a disaster ever appears on CNN or anywhere else. (Side note: I took a photo of the reporter filing his story while seated in our driveway.)
Our neighbors down the street who suffered damages but whose houses were still livable turned out to help us retrieve our possessions. We were loading cars and moving things temporarily to garages around the neighborhood. One of our neighbors from Mullins Path was helping us move and invited us to stay with them for “as long as we needed.” Walter and Alice Byrnes, who we had just met weeks before became our “angels” and took us in along with our dog, Angel, and our cat, April. We will always remember how kind they were to us that day along with all of our neighbors on Lynchburg Loop.
Weeks Later
Once again we were so lucky because after our first night at Alice and Walter’s, friends of the owners of a rental backing up to Alice and Walter’s were checking the house for damage and asked them if they knew of someone who needed housing. Walter said, “Yes!” and before we knew it we had a place to live on Lynchburg Loop just four houses down the street from our damaged home.
Help arrived in many forms. Advance Construction covered what was left of our roof so that we could retrieve our bedroom and study furnishings. A group of young men from the Orlando Mormon church cleaned up debris inside our house. Some other young men removed our garage doors so we could see the condition of our autos…not a pretty site. Neighbors were ready to help with anything and we quickly realized that our top need was boxes to move what we could.
Neighbors came from everywhere to help us move things that could be saved. Another church group brought canned foods and toiletry items. The Red Cross truck was a welcome sight. (We ate a few meals off the truck and were happy for it.) The Village Twirlers (Pat’s a member) turned out to help clean everything from the kitchen that was covered with dirt and tar but worth salvaging. Our neighbors who suffered damage but still had electric and gas invited everyone in for nightly “Tornado Parties” and prepared dinner for 20 or so nightly. (We didn’t have to go grocery shopping for three weeks after the Tornado.)
We had one week to pull things together before a trip to Boston for medical appointments for Bill who has recurring sinus cancer. This was weighing heavy upon us before the Tornado and really put things in perspective for us after the Tornado. Losing our possessions and our house was something we could “fix”….cancer is not so easily fixed as we had learned after the previous three and half year battle.
Postscriptal Thoughts
We went to Boston the end of March and stayed for three months while Bill had proton beam radiation therapy for his cancer. We have our fingers crossed that this time the treatment has worked. The many prayers and loving support of our neighbors and friends got us through this challenging time and we’ll be forever grateful to all of them.
Our insurance carrier (Traveler’s) was very fair with us and we are happy that our home will be ready in September, seven months after that fateful day. (There’s no place like home!) We now have a weather alert radio and are very happy that there is now a radio repeater so that we can receive warnings in our area.
Our dog, Angel, is doing fine except when there is thunder and lightning. She is a little paranoid now. Our cat, April, went to live with my sister-in-law in Leesburg where she is still today.
Bill and I are happy to say that we love living in The Villages and we love our neighbors even more. Our neighbors have become “family” that we know we can count on and they can count on us. We wouldn’t live anywhere else!
posted by Bill Price at 9:43 AM
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