Tim and I were in PA working on the equipment. A local paint shop let us use their facility to take apart one of the CAT skid steers for some mechanical work and to give it a new paint job from damage it sustained from the CA wildfires of 2007. It would have taken about one week to go through the whole machine and get it ready for the 2008 storm season.
Even though we were taking some time to work on the equipment, we would still watch weather patterns in case something developed. We were not expecting anything big to happen so early in the year but then out of the blue there was a deadly outbreak of tornados. From what we could tell at that point it was one of the deadliest outbreak of tornados in TN history during the month of February. Many cities were hit with the same system but Lafayette seemed to be particularly devastated.
The problem was I had equipment in NY, PA, and TN, as well as some of the Cat equipment in pieces. Usually we could respond and depart within hours but this time was different: We needed about 24 hours. We knew we had to respond and that we had to move quickly. Tim worked through the day and night to get the CAT ready to roll, and I headed out to get the grapple truck fueled and ready. Twenty-four hours later we were on the road to TN. The trip was not easy. Tim was tired, and I was feeling run down. By the time we arrived in TN, I was feeling so sick Tim dropped me off at the local emergency room and headed on to scout out where we would be needed most.
There were so many areas hit by the tornados we first had to decide which city and state we should respond to first. Tim quickly found out that Lafayette was hit the worst, with 180 homes destroyed and 14 deaths. Tim later picked me up at the hospital – I had an advanced case of the flu – and we got a hotel room for a few hours of sleep. We arrived in Lafayette that next morning and spoke to some of the men and women in the emergency operations office. They asked if I would help in those who had lost homes and churches. We were given all access passes to anywhere in the city and was told of a neighborhood that had total loss. Upon arrival, we realized there was a church positioned right in the middle of the neighborhood that was destroyed.
Even though we were taking some time to work on the equipment, we would still watch weather patterns in case something developed. We were not expecting anything big to happen so early in the year but then out of the blue there was a deadly outbreak of tornados. From what we could tell at that point it was one of the deadliest outbreak of tornados in TN history during the month of February. Many cities were hit with the same system but Lafayette seemed to be particularly devastated.
The problem was I had equipment in NY, PA, and TN, as well as some of the Cat equipment in pieces. Usually we could respond and depart within hours but this time was different: We needed about 24 hours. We knew we had to respond and that we had to move quickly. Tim worked through the day and night to get the CAT ready to roll, and I headed out to get the grapple truck fueled and ready. Twenty-four hours later we were on the road to TN. The trip was not easy. Tim was tired, and I was feeling run down. By the time we arrived in TN, I was feeling so sick Tim dropped me off at the local emergency room and headed on to scout out where we would be needed most.
There were so many areas hit by the tornados we first had to decide which city and state we should respond to first. Tim quickly found out that Lafayette was hit the worst, with 180 homes destroyed and 14 deaths. Tim later picked me up at the hospital – I had an advanced case of the flu – and we got a hotel room for a few hours of sleep. We arrived in Lafayette that next morning and spoke to some of the men and women in the emergency operations office. They asked if I would help in those who had lost homes and churches. We were given all access passes to anywhere in the city and was told of a neighborhood that had total loss. Upon arrival, we realized there was a church positioned right in the middle of the neighborhood that was destroyed.
Grace Baptist Church was built 25 years ago by the community. After speaking to a few neighbors, they informed me that Jerry Wix, the pastor who founded and built the church, lived just five houses up. I knocked on his door and his wife answered. I explained how I was from Long Island, New York, and was there to offer my help. We could take down the church, clean up the property, and of course, we would provide this help free of charge. She could not believe it and explained that her husband has been so upset. He had been crying and so anxious about what to do next. A few minutes later I met Mr. Wix, an older man in winter work clothes whose eyes were water logged from the past few days. Soft spoken, he was still in a state of shock. I explained that I was there to help him, his congregation, and his community. He did not know what to do but give me a hug, so I embraced him back. The pastor wondered how we could somehow save the steeple. Assuring him this would not be a problem, we agreed to demo the church along with any other houses in this community of people who we knew were in need.
We were so drained from our travel and from pressing forward in our desire to help those devastated by these tornados that I didn’t realize how sick I was becoming. I was weak beyond belief and finally had to admit it was more than exhaustion…I was coughing up blood. I later called the hospital to find out the results of my test. They said I had some kind of debilitating case of Influenza A–one I obviously ignored for a bit too long. The people in the community were so nice and were thankful for our help. But, before we knew it, another tornado struck south of us in Prattville, AL. This tornado destroyed more homes and businesses than had been destroyed in the TN town we were currently helping. Guess where we headed next!
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