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Here we sit in Palmetto, Georgia (Coweta County) where Mother Nature showed her violent anger last Wednesday, February 18. Storms were coming. We were fervently watching the weather on TV. A report came across telling us that hail and angry winds that were likely to be tornadoes were headed in our direction. At that moment the severe weather was about 40 miles from us. The weather radio began sounding off with warnings, yet the sky was clear and blue. Jim went outside to close the patio awning while I grabbed our "emergency bag" that contains all of our important papers, and threw the computer into its case.
He stepped in the front door as I set the bag on the front seat. I turned to put on a pair of shoes. Comfortable ones, I thought just in case they end up being the only pair I have. We never made it back out the front door. Hail began raining furiously down on us. It began as small pellets, and quickly became quarter, fifty-cent and silver dollar sized. In the background, the TV is telling us to get out, and the weather radio is sounding more alarms. There was no place for us to go. There are no solid buildings in this RV park. Even the office is a mobile home. A little more than 5 minutes and it was done. I stepped outside with my trusty camera, and got a picture of the yard with all the hail. We took a quick look and breathed a sigh of relief. There was no damage to the coach or the car and truck. WHEW!
And then, THEN... out of nowhere, Mother Nature suddenly began to rage. It was rage like I'd never seen or heard in my entire life. The hail was there again, and it looked like golf balls, growing quickly to baseballs, then softballs and larger. The sky had turned black, blue, even a little green and we couldn't even hear one another speak without shouting at the top of our lungs. I was terrified that a tornado was going to whisk us away, yet neither of us knew where to turn. The pouring of these huge ice rocks down upon us lasted about 15 minutes, and we watched in horror as the car and truck began getting dented, and smashed.
Horror turned to outright fear for life as the hail broke through the cover on the shower skylight. The vent on the roof over the bathroom sink began to pour water into the bathroom. Hail had broken through the cover and then with its rage, right on through the vent lid. I stood in the middle of the kitchen in a screaming panic that we needed to go, but Jim kept telling me we couldn't because there was just nowhere to get to quickly enough. As I stood there, water began to pour into the kitchen through the Fan-tastic vent. It had also been shattered and was allowing the hail/rain to come in. Desperate to do something, anything to keep my mind from going to fatal thoughts, I began grabbing pots and pans to put under the leaks.
The ice pellets began to grow smaller, and then slow their descent upon us. Then it stopped nearly as quickly as it had begun. Once again we could hear the television. Tornado reports from Coweta County and Spalding County were beginning to come in to the news station. We hadn't seen the violent whirling wind, but we had seen that huge hail come down so hard that it bounced off the pavement high enough to land on the roof of the coach.
Jim went outside to take a quick survey of damage. EVERYTHING on the roof was shattered. Hail had broken even through the shrouds that covered the air conditioners. The next morning with the Insurance people, we would discover that the units below the covers, had also been smashed to a state beyond repair. Wasting no time, anxious to do something, anything to make things feel better,
I called the insurance company. 24/7 for claims, so why not get our claim in fast, fast, fast, before others began calling. While I was doing that, Jim in the same state of mind as me I believe, dragged out the one small tarp that we had in case of an emergency and tried to cover what he could on the roof. There was a thud up there and I tore out the front door only to see that he had fallen on the icy surface. My heart struck my throat until I saw him rise back up and say he was OK, but would be a little bruised later. (and he was - but not badly) The tarp wasn't enough and we began dragging out vinyl picnic table covers and anything else we could find that would repel water. He used step stools and pieces of lumber to hold them down. Even the refrigerator vent was torn to pieces.
We were told that had we had a rubber roof instead of fiberglass, that the entire roof would have been unrepairable.
Next look was at the window awnings - We had left them open deliberately to protect the windows, and it's a very good thing we did. Had we put them away, windows would have been shattered. The awnings are shredded, and the slide toppers join them in their status of shred, but not one single window is broken.
The Insurance appraiser for the coach was here the very next morning and the appraiser for the cars was in touch before noon, and arrived to look at the truck and car first thing Friday morning.
We are OK. The coach is going to take about $10,000 to repair, though we don't have final prices. Work has begun on the coach and the truck is already in the shop for its $3500 in repairs. When the truck is done, we will hand over the car for its $2500 in repairs that we expect to go much higher. After giving the car a bath and looking a little closer, it appears as though they may have to replace the roof too.
Thursday and Friday, the National Weather Service was busy confirming tornado damages and assessing the severity of each area. Within 5 miles of where we are, an F4 had come down and many have lost everything, and are without homes right now. We are considering ourselves very lucky, feeling that staying put ended up being the best thing we could have done. Had we tried to get to a place of safety we would have had to travel right through the tornado stricken area. God's angels must have been looking after us, and we are very blessed that we didn't lose everything. Financially, it's going to hurt because we have three deductibles to cover. But, you know, I've always heard "everything comes in threes." Seems to me that we got all three at one time.
He stepped in the front door as I set the bag on the front seat. I turned to put on a pair of shoes. Comfortable ones, I thought just in case they end up being the only pair I have. We never made it back out the front door. Hail began raining furiously down on us. It began as small pellets, and quickly became quarter, fifty-cent and silver dollar sized. In the background, the TV is telling us to get out, and the weather radio is sounding more alarms. There was no place for us to go. There are no solid buildings in this RV park. Even the office is a mobile home. A little more than 5 minutes and it was done. I stepped outside with my trusty camera, and got a picture of the yard with all the hail. We took a quick look and breathed a sigh of relief. There was no damage to the coach or the car and truck. WHEW!And then, THEN... out of nowhere, Mother Nature suddenly began to rage. It was rage like I'd never seen or heard in my entire life. The hail was there again, and it looked like golf balls, growing quickly to baseballs, then softballs and larger. The sky had turned black, blue, even a little green and we couldn't even hear one another speak without shouting at the top of our lungs. I was terrified that a tornado was going to whisk us away, yet neither of us knew where to turn. The pouring of these huge ice rocks down upon us lasted about 15 minutes, and we watched in horror as the car and truck began getting dented, and smashed.
Horror turned to outright fear for life as the hail broke through the cover on the shower skylight. The vent on the roof over the bathroom sink began to pour water into the bathroom. Hail had broken through the cover and then with its rage, right on through the vent lid. I stood in the middle of the kitchen in a screaming panic that we needed to go, but Jim kept telling me we couldn't because there was just nowhere to get to quickly enough. As I stood there, water began to pour into the kitchen through the Fan-tastic vent. It had also been shattered and was allowing the hail/rain to come in. Desperate to do something, anything to keep my mind from going to fatal thoughts, I began grabbing pots and pans to put under the leaks.The ice pellets began to grow smaller, and then slow their descent upon us. Then it stopped nearly as quickly as it had begun. Once again we could hear the television. Tornado reports from Coweta County and Spalding County were beginning to come in to the news station. We hadn't seen the violent whirling wind, but we had seen that huge hail come down so hard that it bounced off the pavement high enough to land on the roof of the coach.
Jim went outside to take a quick survey of damage. EVERYTHING on the roof was shattered. Hail had broken even through the shrouds that covered the air conditioners. The next morning with the Insurance people, we would discover that the units below the covers, had also been smashed to a state beyond repair. Wasting no time, anxious to do something, anything to make things feel better,
I called the insurance company. 24/7 for claims, so why not get our claim in fast, fast, fast, before others began calling. While I was doing that, Jim in the same state of mind as me I believe, dragged out the one small tarp that we had in case of an emergency and tried to cover what he could on the roof. There was a thud up there and I tore out the front door only to see that he had fallen on the icy surface. My heart struck my throat until I saw him rise back up and say he was OK, but would be a little bruised later. (and he was - but not badly) The tarp wasn't enough and we began dragging out vinyl picnic table covers and anything else we could find that would repel water. He used step stools and pieces of lumber to hold them down. Even the refrigerator vent was torn to pieces. We were told that had we had a rubber roof instead of fiberglass, that the entire roof would have been unrepairable.Next look was at the window awnings - We had left them open deliberately to protect the windows, and it's a very good thing we did. Had we put them away, windows would have been shattered. The awnings are shredded, and the slide toppers join them in their status of shred, but not one single window is broken.
The Insurance appraiser for the coach was here the very next morning and the appraiser for the cars was in touch before noon, and arrived to look at the truck and car first thing Friday morning.
We are OK. The coach is going to take about $10,000 to repair, though we don't have final prices. Work has begun on the coach and the truck is already in the shop for its $3500 in repairs. When the truck is done, we will hand over the car for its $2500 in repairs that we expect to go much higher. After giving the car a bath and looking a little closer, it appears as though they may have to replace the roof too.
Thursday and Friday, the National Weather Service was busy confirming tornado damages and assessing the severity of each area. Within 5 miles of where we are, an F4 had come down and many have lost everything, and are without homes right now. We are considering ourselves very lucky, feeling that staying put ended up being the best thing we could have done. Had we tried to get to a place of safety we would have had to travel right through the tornado stricken area. God's angels must have been looking after us, and we are very blessed that we didn't lose everything. Financially, it's going to hurt because we have three deductibles to cover. But, you know, I've always heard "everything comes in threes." Seems to me that we got all three at one time.
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