Tornado Cleanup

Last saturday, I spend the morning help a friend in the ward chop up his 45 foot pine tree that was blown done in the storm. They were really lucky because the way the tree fell it barely missed their house. At first we only had a few chainsaws and they kept conking out, so we were trying to do a lot by hand, which was slow work. Then we rented two chainsaws from Home Depot and we started ripping thru it. Chainsaws are way fun and way faster than by hand! Still, the trunk of the tree was 2 feet in diameter so it was still slow going and even couple foot section were extremely heavy. I was embarrassed by how tired I was by the end, I must be getting old.

This Saturday, JP and I went with a big group from our ward to Macon County to help them with their tornado cleanup. This was the area hardest hit by the tornadoes and where the most people were killed. The cleanup efforts are being directed by the larger churches in the area, so we went to the Lafayette Church of Christ site. Groups were then assigned to whatever tasks was needed next on the list that they had the tools for. We ended up being assigned to walk through large cattle fields and pick up the pieces of insulation, shingles, siding, roofing, etc... that were scatter throughout the field. Nothing heroic, just necessary.

After doing this for about three hours, we went to a different site at the heart of the worst damage. Driving into this area was simply surreal. Enormous mounds of debris, the only remains of the houses, were everywhere. Some homes still were intact but with "FEMA roofs" (blue tarps.) Former sites of trailer homes were recognizable by the remains of a flower path or an electric boxes outlining space where now nothing else remained. Most debris piles were smoking as burning the wreckage is about the only way to get rid of it. The scale of the devastation felt so much more enormous in person. Hopefully we will be able to organize a few more trips there to help.