Surviving the Storm
May 29—LOAD — Thursday evening called for rain, but no severe weather warnings had been issued. David Bailey, who lives on Little White Oak Road in Greenup County, said his family was home sitting in the living room between 7:30 and 8 p.m. when his front door suddenly blew open.
"I got up and shut the door," Bailey said. "And that's when my daughter in law saw it coming across the field."
The field Bailey referred to is a broad field south of his home across Little White Oak Road against a hill, and another hill is directly behind his property to the north. His property being between two hills will typically shield it from more severe weather as it breaks against one or the other hill depending upon from which direction a storm blows in.
But on Thursday evening, that protection turned into a channel as a tornado dropped over one hill and blew toward the other with the Bailey home in its path.
"It happened so fast no one had time to react," Bailey said. "It tore the garage off, then it was over."
The tornado struck the attached garage of the Bailey home and obliterated it, flinging debris at least 400 feet and beyond. Heavy 2-inch by 10-inch header boards and roof trusses were snapped like twigs, many of them landing on the top of his barn hundreds of feet away, giving it the impression that the barn roof itself had been severely damaged.
Fortunately, the main damage to that structure was a falling debris damage and piece of tin curled up in the front caused, Bailey said he thought, by the other debris catching it as it sailed over it.
No one was hurt by the tornado on Thursday evening. Bailey believes his insurance should cover the repairs to the home, and with any luck he might be able to begin the rebuild process as early as Tuesday. The garage will need to be rebuilt, and Bailey said it damaged a good portion of the roof over his kitchen as well.
But in the middle of the catastrophe, Bailey was quick to say that it could have been much worse if not for his neighbors jumping in to help. "There must have been close to 30 people here right after it happened," he said. "Everyone was checking on us, and out in the rain helping us cover everything up that hadn't been blown away."
Bailey said that he considered himself blessed that no one was hurt, because family and loved ones are what is really important, and things can always be replaced.
The Greenup County native also said he is blessed to live in a community that looks out for one another and is always quick to help each other in need.
