Another view

Note: If you haven't seen the first pictures, go to the previous post, and read that one first. These pictures were taken later in the day. I was on my way to check on a few people I knew in the hard hit area. I had made phone calls earlier in the day, but one family had not answered, and I didn't know the phone number for another lady (she is a moderator on Freecycle™ with me, and she's older, so I was worried).


This is another view of Waters, with a warehouse in the back.

Another shot, with the car wash at the far right

IN this shot, on the far left, you can see the large bay door to Gymnastics Plus - it was folded at a 90° angle, OUTWARD. It's amazing to see the flagpole still standing, and the lights, while other poles are bent and broken!

A different angle of the Toyota dealership. By this time, they'd already removed many of the overturned cars and debris. The large Toyota sign that was leaning backwards was gone. This was about 15 hours after the tornado struck.

The Midas Muffler building, in the daylight. Notice the metal wrapped around a guy wire once again...and that white pole with green? That was a billboard.

Waters Hardware...and a still standing flag.

more metal wrapped on wires

Waters, the Carwash, and a long shot of Toyota.


The next pictures were taken on "the hill" in Miller Ranch and the Amherst Drive area (known as University Heights)



This was my first view. I had gone up Drake to check on Lynda, the Freecycle™ moderator (she was fine, though her car is totalled and she has several thousand dollars worth of damage to her home and property), and then I turned onto Fordham and into Cherry Hill to check on the Bandy family (their daughter had a birthday party just this past weekend, and Hannah is good friends with her and was there). Luckily they had no visible damage, though the homes across the street had some. I was just passed their house when I saw the hill in front of me.

When I saw the damage on the hill, I was TRULY worried about the Bovee family. Another of Hannah's classmates, they've had a lot of hardships in the last year and a half, but with amazing faith, have pulled through. (side note: the Bovee family did have some damage to their home. When I spoke to her, she said they had been laying in her son's bed 5 minutes before the tornado hit. The back of the house, which faced the direction of the tornado, didn't appear to have much damage...but the wrapping winds came around and shattered the front windows...where the kids' rooms were...where they had been only 5 minutes earlier. Her husband is currently deployed, but the community strength and spirit was there as the principal of our school was cleaning and fixing and had the kids at his home) So, I drove back to Amherst and threaded my way up the hill. At the top of Amherst, I saw this view.


The path of the tornado was quite clear. Amherst has a sharp jog on it, and it connects to Miller Ranch Drive. Shortly after you turn onto Amherst from Miller Ranch, you come across Peachtree Circle, the next road is Bradford. There is a small road that runs parallel to Amherst and connects Peachtree to Bradford, called Applewood. Only 4 homes on that little road...they took the first and hardest hit. My friend Jo lived on Applewood. By God's good grace, she and her family were not home, they weren't even here in the city. This is Jo's house. The black thing on right is a leather chair. It was big... and it was still there...along with the counter that I'd stood at a few weeks ago.


The destruction is...well, there are NO words...NONE. It's one thing to see pictures or video on television...it's something else entirely to drive by and see it.
This is Bradford...you can see the shock on the faces of the folks walking.


People carry boxes and water to those who are beginning the salvage process.
A home survives, but loses its upper level


It looks like a bomb went off.


The view on Amherst, near the Dartmouth area


homes, trees, and damaged vehicles


trees sheared off...signs in the rubble, homes off their foundations.

This home lost half its roof...

Another view

And yet another...


But the amazing thing? This community has pulled together. As as Chapman, another small town that was hit that same night, about 1/2 hour before us. Chapman has suffered a LOT of damage...they say that the town of 1300 has about 80% loss or damage. All three schools in town are gone. They had one death. But they are okay, and are getting cleaned up and the community is standing by them.