Wednesday, April 27, was a record-breaking day of destruction as tornados tore across the entire South, leaving hundreds dead and destroying many more homes and businesses. For several days, all we heard about in our local news was the terrible destruction in nearby Ringgold. Then on Friday we read some news of DeKalb County, AL, where Leahaven is located. The entire population of DeKalb County was without power and 35 people were dead. We had to be at home for a plumber that day, but Saturday morning we headed down to Alabama to check on Leahaven.
On our way we passed through Trenton, GA, about halfway between home and Leahaven. These pictures were actually taken on the way home, but they show the devastation the tornado left in Trenton. A huge swath of trees was stripped bare all the way up Lookout Mountain (look above the white SUV) as the tornado passed through Trenton, went all the way up the side of the mountain, and came over onto our side. The smoke is made by branches cut from downed trees that are being burned.
Here is one glimpse of the havoc in Trenton--not one of the worst scenes, by far, but it felt too
voyeur-ish to take pictures of the ruins of peoples' houses. This is a commercial site, although an apartment in the distance is covered in a green tarp after its roof was ripped off.
When we got down into Alabama, everything looked fine until we got off at our exit on Hwy. 40, about five minutes away from Leahaven. We could see stripped trees and stopped traffic ahead of us, and our hearts sank.
We sat for about 10 minutes waiting while the electric crews rehung a large power line across the road. From the car windows, we could look out and see complete desolation on both sides of the road. This is what was left of a group of homes, their remnants wrapped around denuded tree stumps.
The last two miles to the house, our hearts were in our throats. Across the road from our driveway, to our shock, we saw our neighbor's flattened garage. However, since his house looked intact and no one was in sight, we turned down the driveway.
One more anxious tenth of a mile--and we got a glimpse of the house. It was still there, along with the shed!
In the front yard, a huge limb from the sycamore tree hung down to the ground.
But as we hurried around the side of the house, this is the sight that met our eyes--a gigantic tree toppled over onto the roof right above the master bedroom.
Around back, we could see that the new gutter was completely ripped off, but the roof looked barely dented. Of course it is impossible to know the full extent of the damage until the tree is removed and the structure of the house examined, but our main emotions were relief and gratitude.
After all the horrors we had seen in Trenton and nearby on Sand Mountain, this was minor! It almost looks as if God's hand had guided the falling tree between the pump house and the corner of the house, bringing it down against a bank of earth that kept it from falling too heavily on the roof.
After verifying that there was no visible damage in the house, although the power was out and there was no water, we set out to inspect the rest of the property.
We already knew about one bit of damage awaiting us. Tony, the farmer, had let us know that when we drove his truck of chicken manure over the culvert, it collapsed under the weight of his truck. This nice flat piece of metal is supposed to be a big round pipe! This will be a job for someone with earth-moving equipment . . . after all the tornado damage is repaired.
Back by the lake, a panel of metal roofing had blown off the cabin and some screen was loose, both things that Herb can repair.
Here and there across the property, we could see a tree snapped off or a giant limb dangling, letting us see the path the storm had taken right past our house. Obviously, we received only the wind at the edge of the tornado and not the full force of the tornado itself.
One bright note was this beautiful blue-eyed grass that came up right next to the area that was denuded by TVA's spraying (see the previous post). I was particularly worried about these wildflowers, knowing that they grow in abundance right where all the vegetation was killed. But by God's grace, many of the plants survived and will hopefully spread to fill in where others were killed.
Going back to the house, we passed our barn--or what passes for one! It was so bad even before the storm that the insurance company refuses to cover it! But it sheltered our tractor, coming through the storm looking only slightly the worse for the wear. There are definitely a few more pieces of roof sticking up in the air, but seeing what the tornado did to steel barns, I can only say, "They don't make 'em this way anymore!"
Driving up to the house from the back of the property, we saw an encouraging sight: There in the yard near the uprooted tree was a red rose blooming its little heart out. It was like a gift from God, a sort of floral rainbow, promising that He is in control of nature and He will not let it ravage out of the bounds He maintains.
We thank God for His protection of Leahaven. We thank Him that He is continuing to answer the prayers that dedicated this place, by preserving it to continue its ministry to His servants.
