Thanks

Cheri is walking me through this and I just want to thank you all for you prayers and encouragement. Frank

We're making progress

For Emily, here is a picture of Zack and Patches ... they are OK

Living room immediately after the tornado ... all windows have been shattered



Looking into the main bathroom (immediately after tornado)

Looking from the back deck toward the high school football field (see picture Wendy posted earlier today for comparison)

one side of the garage was missing and the front garage door was broken

front of the house (all windows were shattered)

closer view of the front of the house

Although these pictures don't show it, we've been making progress. Almost all of the carpeting upstairs has now been removed. It is amazing how much glass we found under the carpet! In fact, after the carpet and padding were removed, we found a piece of glass embeded in the hall closet floor. We have no idea how it even got in there as the closed doors were shut.

The furneral for the Mulders, although emotional, went very well. We think that it helped bring closure to some of the disaster victims.

We are all tired and just had to get out of town for a short time. So, we went to look at furniture (all furniture was thrown out because it was filled with glass shards) in the neighboring town of Grundy Center and then we went to Pizza Hut for supper. Had a wonderful and relaxing time there. When we asked for our bill, the waiter informed us that someone else has already paid for it because they knew what we were going through. WOW, what a surprise! Don't know who did this... Now, it is bed time. We will be back tomorrow with more information and pictures of our progress. Thank-you all for your prayers!
Betty and Cheri

LO by Wendy

I made this LO with the photos Cheri posted. This word art is just so perfect, that I had to do it.

Credits: Autumn in New England by Beckie Wallace; word art by Bethany Harty

Backyard at Christmas 2007

Here is the view from mom/dad's backyard this past Christmas (2007)...showing both the neigborhood and the high school. This will be for comparison as Cheri will post photos of what it looks like after the tornado.

Good morning ... this morning Frank, Betty, and Mike P are going to the funeral of the Mulders, a couple that were killed during the tornado. Frank was asked to officiate since they were members of the Parkersburg CRC where he was formerly a pastor. Mike and Cheri remain home and are continuing to rip out the carpet. It is amazing how much glass and other debris we are still finding! We will be back later today to post more photos of how everything looked immediately after the tornado as well a current photos, showing the progress we are making. Wendy, I'll make sure to post the photos you requested. Feel free to post a photo of what the view from the back yard looked like this past December (for comparison to what it looks like now).
Cheri

Parkersburg Bank

an overturned semi

random destruction

Our house

It is Thursday evening and we've had a long day of work. The storms last evening tore loose some of the tarps that were put up to reduce water leaks and further damage to the house. Both Mikes (Pott & Billingsley) spent most of the morning resecuring the tarps because of the possibility of further rainstorms later in the week. The afternoon was spent ripping carpet out of the living room, dining room, and hall as it is filled with glass shards and is unsafe to keep. Progress is definitely being made. Thankfully the shock and disbelief stage is passing and we are now in the cleanup stage.

For those who don't know the whole story, I suppose we had better backtrack. On sunday May 25, 2008 Parkersburg, IA was hit by an F5 tornado at 5:00 p.m. This tornado was 1/2 to 1 mile wide and reached 75,000 feet high! It is a miracle that mom and dad (Frank and Betty Pott) were standing in their bedroom looking outside at the sky when they were. They saw the clouds begin to swirl, yelled to brother Mike to come inside and then ran downstairs. By the time they got downstairs they said they heard what sounded like a train ... the tornado was hitting. It took approximately 10 seconds and then all was deadly still. Upon emerging from the basement they found glass and other debris all over the house. Further investigation showed that half of the windows were shattered, there was a large hole in the roof over the front hall/entrance and one wall of the garage had blown away. They were fortunate. Looking outside their kitchen window across the high school football field, everything was totally demolished ... Most of the damage was focused around the high school neighborhood. There were five fatalities in that area (just a few blocks from our parents home) and two more 10-miles away in New Hartford. 200 homes have been destroyed, and 400 damaged. The scoreboard from the football field was found 70-miles away. Parkersburg mail has been found as far as 100-mi away. Some people have still not located their vehicles. We thank God for His protection!!

Cheri

Cheri & Mike arrived safely

Cheri & Mike arrived safely at mom/dad's house today. She called me (Wendy) and asked me to set up this blog for them so that our family & friends can see what they are doing and how things are progressing there.

Cheri's Tornado LO

Cheri did this LO with photos that came out the first day after the tornado.

Credits: Sorbet Summer by Carol Ritter (available at Scraphead.com)

Reason for this Blog

I created this blog for my parents who recently survived the F5 tornado that hit Parkersburg, IA on Sunday, May 25, 2008.