New pole barn smashed to pieces....

[mx842]

A couple weeks ago we had an earthquake that shook the heck out of the house. At first I thought it was an ATF chopper landing on my house to remove my guns from my cold dead hands but then I realized what was happening and calmed down and said no problem it's just a 5.9 earthquake. Only problems discovered was some shoe boxes all piled in the middle of a closet floor and a few broken dishes that fell on to the floor.

A week later we get this hurricane that everybody was saying was going to be no big deal where I am and where as I am usually pretty good about getting prepared for these things I sure dropped the ball on this one. I did get 10 gals of gas for the genny just in case but never bothered to bring it up to the house from the barn where I was using it at. Long story short.... never underestimate mother nature.

By noon the day of the storm we were already getting steady 40 mph winds and the storm was still 150 miles away. About then I was thinking about all the nasty things I would like to do to the channel 12 weather man who all week had been saying we were not going to see any really bad stuff here where we are at. By 2 pm the winds had picked up and were gusting to 55mph and the rain was really coming down and the yard looked like a small lake. I couldn't tell where the edge of my Koi pond was because it was all just one big mass of water and I was afraid the fish would just swim off into the woods.

By 4pm my little weather station lost the wind monitor in a gust that measured 69 mph and after that the whole outside unit was ripped off the porch and took off as if it was attached to an Apollo rocket headed to space. By now trees that I thought would be safe because they had survived the last hurricane that had over 80 mph winds here started to fall around us and the sounds of trees crunching as they crashed to the ground was nerve racking. At least this time it was light outside and we could see what was happening. However some things I just didn't want to see and as I was standing on my porch this giant oak that was just 20 feet from the house started to whip around and I could see the root ball being ripped from the ground and at first it looked like it was headed right for the house but my mind went blank as I saw another huge oak crash through my pole barn that I had been building. My wife screaming brought me out of the cussing rampage I was engaged in because of what I had just seen and the great oak that had been headed for me and my porch was redirected by another huge oak that was on the other end of the house. At first I thought the first tree was going to win the battle and take out the porch with me on it and bring the second big tree with it to finish me off but the force of this tree and the 80 mph or more wind gust that was ripping through the woods gently knocked the first tree from it's original path to one that was a little more suitable for the position I was in. Both trees landed sideways to the house and only one big branch landed on the roof and I don't even think it came off either of these two trees.

This branch was laying in a way that it was putting great stress on the roof and I was afraid it was going to crush through one of the sky lights so I went to the garage and got my saw and had to cut a path to my ladder and then I went up on the roof and cut the branch up in smaller parts so that it was not pushing so hard on the roof system. That has to be one good skylight I still don't know how it kept from breaking.

About this time I'm hearing my wife screaming again but this time she was screaming because the phone was out and she couldn't report the crazy 64 year old man that had completely lost his mind and was running around the neighborhood with a chainsaw and climbing on to roofs in the middle of a hurricane. Luckily for me the power and phones were out because they probably would have carried me off to the Looney bin if she had gotten through to someone with authority. :laughing:

I was thinking just a week ago how nice it was that I had finally finished burning the last of the stumps and debris from the last big storm on 03'. Now I have to start all over and this time I believe I have more blow downs than we had then. A rough count puts the number somewhere at 40 in the 31/2 ac part right around the house. The rest of the woods are so mangled with torn and twisted trees that I can't really tell what I have to deal with. There is one 5 ac hillside to the left of my house and from what I can see every tree in there is either blown over or the tops have been ripped off. It will take me a month to cut my way in there to really see what痴 going on.

For now I'm just worried about what is in the yard and trying to get things back to where I can at least walk in the yard without having to climb through brush. A limb landed in my Koi pond and knocked a hole in the liner and so far I have lost two of my most beautiful fish. Hopefully I won稚 lose any more and now I have made temp repairs that I hope will do until I can get around to removing the giant tree that uprooted right in the middle of the pond area. Next is dealing with the insurance company and that will
probably be more stressful that going through the storm. They have already told me they don't pay for trees that blow over unless they fall on your house and they may not even pay for the barn because it was under construction. Right now I'm just taking it one day at a time.

 

[Brad_Blazer]

Quite a story!
Glad you're okay. It looks like you've got your work cut out for you. Where are you located?

 

[JerryK]

Sorry for your loss. Old Mother Nature can really put a hurt on a guy, almost as much as a P.O.'d wife that is real handy with a cast iron frying pan when you are sound asleep.... On the bright side, now that old crazy guy has LOT's of projects lined up to keep him busy... What state are you in..???

 

[Ken]

Gives you a whole new outlook on life when the trees are piled around the house and protects the place from blowing away. We also 3 years ago in a tornado lost 30 acres of trees and all buildings and trees around our house.
And no FEMA to hold our hands since were in the country and there is more needs in the city.
Agree it is nerve racking to know everything planned is getting blown away.
Trust there is some insurance and a neighbor with a good dozer willing to spend a couple of weeks pushing the trees in to a burn pile.
ken

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Never, never underestimate mother nature. Reminds me of my buddy's story. 2003 Hurricane Claudette waited until the last day to intensify and make landfall at Port Lavaca, Texas packing 100mph winds and higher gusts. He lives inland about 30 miles where the land is very flat and no trees. The tallest thing (besides a building) is a red ant bed. Anyway, he needed to go out to his large barn and shore up the doors. He said walking with 100mph winds blowing you sideways was the hardest thing he's ever done in his life. Said he was leaning into the wind and clutching grass or anything with his hands trying to get to the barn. While he was parking his Clark forklift up against a big rollup door, the other rollup door blew out of it's tracks. He said it was flailing around in the wind whilst still hanging on 1 of it's cables. He decided it was better to hide behind the forklift until it snapped off. Luckily, the rest of the barn held up.

Insurers won't pay for trees. It is sad when a grand old oak or such gets pulled out.

On a lighter note, and not trying to take the thread political, I heard the earthquake was centered over a recently discovered fault line named Bush's fault line. They said what triggered the earthquake was our founding fathers rolling over in their graves.:laughing::laughing::laughing:

 

[mx842]

We are in Va, (Richmond area) where we were only supposed two get 25 MPH winds and light rain. They were saying that the Hampton Rhodes area was going to be the hardest hit but we got more damage here. We were without power for almost a week because the power lines in a lot of places were totally destroyed from downed trees. Then also Va power sent everything they had to the Norfolk area because they were looking at more damage from the storm. After about two days we started seeing trucks from other states come in to help with the construction of new lines and poles. I saw trucks from as far away Indiana, Georgia, and Kentucky working on the lines. Of-course I live out in the sticks so we get our power last.

I finally got my genny uncovered from the big tree that crashed through my barn and patched up to where it would run so we did have power to run some of the normal things like the fridg and well pump. Although I had to fix both the electric wire and water pipe that were ripped in half as one of these big trees uprooted and smashed it into the ground.

I'll probably have to deal with this the same way I have had to deal with everything else for the past several years.....by myself. Me and my old Bronco do have their work cut out for us but I guess that is good in some respects, it will keep me busy and out of trouble. :laughing: I am wondering though just how long it will be for the president to find a way to blame this on Bush cause it seems he don't miss a chance of doing just that.

 

[creekbend]

Here's hoping your recovery and rebuilding efforts are successful. It makes me realize just how lucky we were. We live in the piedmont of NC. We only received 30-40 mile gusts and barely enough rainfall to amount to much. Happy Tractoring.:tractor:

 

[charliepff]

Sorry to hear all the damage you all sustained. That hurricane really seemed to prove the weathermen wrong in every aspect of where it was going to hit and what it was going to do. I live right over the mountain from Loudoun VA and we spent three days getting the stuff at the firehouse ready. We did not even end up getting the rain we were supposed to. We did have cracks in our basement floor from the earthquake. On a side note. My wife and I set ourselves up as much as possible as to not have to depend on anyone helping us out. We have food, water, and multiple contigency plans in case of a disaster. Most of the neighbors around me are the same way. Most of us have generators, multiple saws, atv's and fuel supplies. I wish we lived closer to give you a hand.

 

[Bdavis]

We are in Va, (Richmond area) where we were only supposed two get 25 MPH winds and light rain. They were saying that the Hampton Rhodes area was going to be the hardest hit but we got more damage here. We were without power for almost a week because the power lines in a lot of places were totally destroyed from downed trees. Then also Va power sent everything they had to the Norfolk area because they were looking at more damage from the storm. After about two days we started seeing trucks from other states come in to help with the construction of new lines and poles. I saw trucks from as far away Indiana, Georgia, and Kentucky working on the lines. Of-course I live out in the sticks so we get our power last.

I finally got my genny uncovered from the big tree that crashed through my barn and patched up to where it would run so we did have power to run some of the normal things like the fridg and well pump. Although I had to fix both the electric wire and water pipe that were ripped in half as one of these big trees uprooted and smashed it into the ground.

I'll probably have to deal with this the same way I have had to deal with everything else for the past several years.....by myself. Me and my old Bronco do have their work cut out for us but I guess that is good in some respects, it will keep me busy and out of trouble. :laughing: I am wondering though just how long it will be for the president to find a way to blame this on Bush cause it seems he don't miss a chance of doing just that.

Really sorry to hear you had all those troubles, been through a few hurricanes but have never had the devastation you encountered. During Gustav all the trees fell around my house. Many of my neighbors were not so lucky. However, that hurricane had a profound effect on my attidude and restored my faith in how many good people there are in this country.

It wasn't the federal or local goverment that came to save the day. It was "Southern Baptist Convention chain saw crews" and other volunteers like them. They cleared roads, cleared houses and helped people out and did they not ask anything in return.

Glad you and your family are safe - best wishes
Your families health and safety can not be replaced everything else is just stuff !

 

[mx842]

Sorry to hear all the damage you all sustained. That hurricane really seemed to prove the weathermen wrong in every aspect of where it was going to hit and what it was going to do. I live right over the mountain from Loudoun VA and we spent three days getting the stuff at the firehouse ready. We did not even end up getting the rain we were supposed to. We did have cracks in our basement floor from the earthquake. On a side note. My wife and I set ourselves up as much as possible as to not have to depend on anyone helping us out. We have food, water, and multiple contigency plans in case of a disaster. Most of the neighbors around me are the same way. Most of us have generators, multiple saws, atv's and fuel supplies. I wish we lived closer to give you a hand.

Thanks! Yeah this storm was a sleeper and goes to show why you should always expect the worst and hope for the best. I am set up also to be able to make it for a few weeks without help if I have to and most always keep enough stuff laying around to keep me going if things go bad. I did drop the ball this time a little though and my wife has not missed a chance to remind me of that either.:laughing: This reminds me,..... this might be a good time to mention that it might be the right time to replace our 20 year old genny with something a little bigger.

Thanks for the offer but once the insurance adjuster gets here ( now they say it will be the 20th before they show up) to let me know how bad I'm going to take it in the shorts I'll just take my time and work on it until it's cleaned up just like I did with the last storm like this. I've already cut up all the tops and branches of the ones laying in the yard and piled a lot of that mess around the stumps so it can dry out where I can burn them when the weather is right. I'll leave the logs whole until I get the trash cleaned up then cut them up and split it up for firewood for the next 7 years or so. I'm still burning wood that was knocked down in 03'.

What is really sad is the wood out in the woods that will just lay there and rot before it can be put to use. I can't get to a lot of it because it is so mangled up. Logging companies won't even cut hardwood right now because the log yards are not paying hardly anything for it and after this it will be even worst. I even thought about maybe buying one of those mini sawmills you see advertized and cut it in boards to finish my barn and a few other things around the place. Between me and my friend who backs up to my property in the back of my place we probably have 2 or 3 hundred thousand board feet maybe more of really nice hardwood timber on the ground and it's a shame to let it go to waste. You can't burn but so much in these wood heaters they make now days.