Monthly Archives: December 2013

When everything you possess is taken from you instantly and all you are left with is the clothes on your back, and you have no idea which way to go, the only thing you can do is “Stand Strong”.

The devastation witnessed by the residents of Washington on 11/17/2013 was unfathomable. Few people alive have experienced what we, as a town, have gone through and continue to go through. It is unbelievable that we made it through with such a minimal loss of life and so few injuries.

This has proven to be one of the strongest communities I have ever been involved with. I look forward to watching this town grow and rebuild and keep the “new” normal alive. May we never go back to “normal”, may we embrace the “new” normal and move forward.

This video touched me so deeply.

Here is a slide show of our personal experience starting to stand strong.

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I could not believe what we found in town once we had the energy to go see if we could help. 11/19/2013

I think the part that caught me most off guard the most was the media presence.

Initially the primary affected area in Washington was secured and traffic was heavily restricted. 1 of the initial command centers was erected at a church across the street from my house.

There was one check point between my home and the outside world. That check point was established to eliminate the random traffic of casual observers. However, it was open to anyone requesting access to the church for disaster relief efforts. Paramedics and emergency service personnel had their hands full with the main urban area. The press was directed to the church to keep the impact down in town. My house was the first sign of the disaster many of the press experienced. Once they realized the true gravity of the situation, my story was eclipsed and they moved on. However, I was in no way prepared to deal with interview after interview. All of the requests for staged photos for “the audience”. “Can you dig through that pile? The lighting is better there…”

If they were kicked out of an area due to safety reasons, they would come kill time watching us dig through our remains.

On the up side, they helped me capture some really special moments in my life.

18 lives between the two of them on 11/16/2013, 3 lives between thew two of them on 11/18/2013…Bacchus pops his little head up. “Where have you guys been? I’m hungry!” must have been his first thoughts given the look. And I can just hear Naiya…”oh shit…oh shit…OH SHIT!!

For the most part, this link is in chronological order starting from the most recent. It is a great photo journal put together by the Chicago Tribune.

When you haven’t showered for days and have been digging through the junk you once treasured, an on camera interview is never that flattering!

Here’s the original article link for the previous video

We took the kids out to view the house on 11/18/2013 and they made it on the Washington Post!

This is another Chicago Tribune photo gallery. Some are repeated from earlier.

The video at the beginning of this photo gallery is the closest I have come across to catching the physical destruction of our house. Time line seems right and I think I know the location of the property the video was taken at.

Believe it or not, our local news even covered this!

ALL of the people that I know that have seen this have unanimously agreed, I need to avoid the cameras!!! Really, it was a stressful time. Give me a break! On the upside, a “not so southern” segment of this was aired on CNN on Thanksgiving morning. Unfortunately I cannot find a link for that. Trust me, though, I came off very respectable in that clip.

Loved this photo of my cars after they were pulled from the rubble. Found this on flicker.

Normal Sunday routine:

Sit around and scratch ourselves until somebody comes up with something to do.  Go for a walk (sometimes).  Go grocery shopping.  General Sunday stuff.  Probably should have added church, but I did that enough as a child and the gods and I had an understanding.  We talked on many occasions during the late 90’s.

11/17/2013:

Woke up next to my beautiful wife.  Yeah, somehow she pulls off the morning hot look really well.  Loafed around for about 30 minutes and then noticed that it was going to be a “Severe Winds” day.  Gusts up to 55MPH was the drop down notification on my phone from the little red triangle icon.  Lindsay and I laughed…”my dad would kick my ass if that playset blew over again!”  We had just rebuilt it a couple months earlier from a wind gust that blew it over and I had yet to stake it down to prevent it from happening again.  “I’ll run out and put the stakes in the ground and tie them to the frame with ratchet straps.”  I thought that was such a great idea.  And it solved my problem of looking bad if it blew over because I hadn’t secured it yet.

Wish I had a picture of that!  4 metal stakes driven into the ground in various spots with ratchet straps holding the swingset down.  The funny memories.  Wonder how long it lasted during the storm…J

It was about 9:30 and we were getting hungry.  Didn’t have to pick the kids up until noon.  Tried to push the kids off later so we could head to Peoria for breakfast and to go shoe shopping for Lindsay’s birthday.  How cliché…she’s really not “that” kind of girl.  Probably would have walked out with hiking boots.  Anyway, couldn’t get extra time so we thought we should shop locally.  We went to a little diner in town and then over to the grocery store, across town.

Around 10:45 our phones go off with a severe weather announcement.  We had just pulled into the grocery store parking lot.  We barely paid any attention to the phones.  Started to hail a bit as we walked across the parking lot.  The local sirens went off.  I looked at Lindsay…”I’d really rather not be stuck in there if the power goes out.  Let’s go home.”

Driving across Cruger road towards home, Lindsay looked over her shoulder…”Ben, look at that storm cloud, let’s get home before the rain hits.”

Pulled up to the stop sign.  Turn left, house is 500 feet on the right side.  Turn right, kids are with the grandparents 2 miles south.  Storms coming fast behind us.  Lindsay…”Let’s go to your folks”.  I said “The kids are fine.  Let’s get home before the rain.”  I turned left for home.

Lindsay looks out the car window.  “Ben, that storm looks huge and I think there are tornadoes forming.”

“Fine, grab the dog and let’s go be with the kids.  Don’t want them to be scared.”  Lindsay grabbed the dog and ran back in for her phone.  “Should I go back for the cats?” she asked.  “Let’s go!” I yelled.  The winds were picking up.  Blowing very strongly north east to south west.  Wind never blows that direction around our area.  Pulled out of the driveway around 10:55 and headed towards my parent’s house.

As we were driving we could see the storm moving just off to our right.  It looked bad.

Ran into my parent’s house.  Told everyone to get downstairs.  Got the kids under the pool table.  The power went out.  No flicker, just out.  Then the sun came out.  Normal guy move…”Let’s go outside, see if we can see anything.”

Beautiful sky.

“Hey dad, the storms passed.  Let’s go see how the farmhouse did.”

“I bet that old pine tree finally broke in the side yard.  Probably have to fix the fence.”

Jumped in the car to head up to the house.  Half way, Main St. became a parking lot.  We got a little further and I looked at my dad.  “The house is gone”.  “No it’s not, Ben.”

I could always see the roof of my house from this little rise in the road.  It wasn’t there.

Cops were turning cars around.

“That’s my house!”

“Sorry, kid.” Said the cop as I ran past.

“Watch out for the…”  I wasn’t listening, I was just walking.  Beautiful sky.