Crown Cues hit by tornado!!

CrownCues

CrownCues

Jamey Gray, Me, Tim Chin
Silver Member
This is Gene's son Tom, Gene and Renee'(Mom and Dad) were in the middle of a tornado tonight. Everyone is ok, house is standing, however the garage and workshop are not. We will not know the extent of the damage until daylight is here. We have been having thunderstorms off and on all night and are expected to have strong winds all day tomorrow with a chance of snow. They are currently without electric and do not know when it will be back on as the neighborhood was hit hard. Most of the Cues should be ok, because Dad keeps them inside the house. Mom (jespiddlin) had her library thousands of books in the garage.

I guess it's a good thing they never moved thier pool table out there so they still have a pool table to play on... :wink:
 
Just glad you and your family are okay,that had to be scary,when I was a kid in NY we had a tornado come through,it was a day I have never forgotten.
 
OMG thank goodness they are ok! Please pass along well wishes and lets hope the damage is manageable for them! Ive chatted via email with your mom and she seems like a great lady!!
 
tornado

Tom,
Let you parents know of my concern for their welfare. They are great people and I don't believe they need any more adversity. Stay in touch and let me know personally how I might help.
Tom Gedris, Triple Cross Cues
 
Tom,
Let you parents know of my concern for their welfare. They are great people and I don't believe they need any more adversity. We correspond by email numerous times over the years. May I state here public and I hope others who have custom cues order might do the same. Worry about getting your house and other items in order, before you worry about finishing my Masse Cue, as there was no rush to begin with. May God give you both strength durng this time. Email if there might be something I can do.
Bob Watson
 
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Tornado

I'm glad your folks are okay. Most of the "stuff" can be replaced. Man, most people just don't know how scary and powerful tornados are till they get to experience one. They suck!
 
Oklahoma is tornado alley. I went to school in Norman, and I remember seeing my first small tornado all those years ago. I was fascinated until I saw a cow get flung high in the air. I couldn't believe my eyes, and the image of the cow hovering 100 feet above the ground has never escaped me.

I'm glad that everyone survived this one okay. You can always rebuild, if you have life. Good luck and God speed.
 
Don't have time to read your replies, but thanks so much for the support. Will read as soon as we can. Trying to save ever;ything from the shop that we can. We are getting ice and it's been below freezing all day with strong winds and no power. finally have power.

will write again as soon as we can. G otta save the workshop! you guys take care and thanks again!
 
I recall June of 97 and being stuck between loads in Denton, Texas at the 76 Truck Stop. A Twister came over, but did not set down but shoot the HELL out of a 20,000 POUND 18 Wheeler Tractor.
 
pics

In every spare 5 minutes I have, I'm trying to get pics ready to put online. I think I'm just going to add the storm damage shots to my website, but I'll put a link on the forum, when I get them up.

I don't know if I said it already, but they did determine we had an EF-1 tornado that was about 50 yards wide. The damage to the neighborhood is extensive. The path of destruction is more than a mile long and half a mile wide.

A 2 story house that a family has been building over the course of a few years is only a 1 story house, now. The bottom story collapsed under the top story.

One house had the roof totally ripped off. There is a crew over there replacing it, today... 2x4's all over the ground and everything.

One home had a section that was blown apart and the insulation is scattered for a couple of blocks... stuck to everything like a cotton candy mess.

One mobile home had the walls and roof ripped off the floor and the metal and all the contents of that home are tangled and twisted over a couple of blocks.

The house next door to that one (a double-wide) was moved and the water pipes busted. The kids were out trying to turn off the water, but the meter was right beside a downed power line, so they were worried the power might come back on while they were there.

Our next door neighbors had a 2x4 fly into their home and I guess it went right through the computer. They had a good deal of house damage and they have been trying to sell their home.

The neighbors on the hill behind us had the top of the barn blown off. The horses (some of my best buddies) were badly spooked. One neighbor took in one of the horses and they found the others hiding in the trees. We thought they had jumped the fence and run off.

Nobody can believe our home is still here and all our shingles are still attached, nice and neat. Our house was directly in the path of the storm, but it jumped over us and ripped apart the house across the street (the one that had the floor left behind). Our windows are fine. Everything seems to be okay, here. It was a very scary experience.

We live on a slope, going down into a small valley. The tornado went into the mile block beside us about a mile back. It jumped over into our neighborhood about 3/4 of a mile back from us and went into the lowest part of the small valley and just made it's way up the hill. It was on the ground for over a scattered, zig-zag mile.

Yesterday, working on the remains was awful. The winds were very strong north winds, with occasional rain and ice. The wind was terribly bitter and just talking was a major effort. The temp was around 32 degrees, but the wind chill was probably close to zero. We could only stay outside for a few minutes at a time and it got worse as the day went on. We got our exercise running back and forth, all day, bringing everything we could into the house. Even after bringing wood, lathes and stuff indoors all day, here is what the place looked like last night. This was Gene and our son, Tom, working in what's left of the garage/workshop, last night....
TornadoDay2-4776.jpg

All the best wood was saved as quickly as we could get it all. We spent the whole day bringing in loads of wood. My house looks like a wood storage facility, right now. :eek:

After the storm, the front wall of part of the garage was standing, but it was swaying precariously and we were afraid that the strong winds would blow it over on top of one of us, so we managed to lay it down, finally. Last night, when Tom and Gene thought they were unable to do anymore and they were resting in the house, we heard an extremely loud BOOMMM!! We ran to the back door to see that the strong winds had blown the back wall of the garage back into a standing position, up against the trees behind it. You never saw two exhausted men move faster! They threw their winter clothes back on and rushed out to tie the wall to the trees, so Gene could get to his cabinet and other items that the wall had fallen over in the storm. He had been unable to get to a lot of stuff, because of that wall.

I hope it gets warmer and drier, quickly.

I'll let you all know when I get the pics online.
 
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thanks

To all of you..... We appreciate the prayers and support.

Jay, that would be an awful experience, to see a cow in the air. When I was a kid, we lived in a mobile home park that was new. I often watched the tornadoes come into our neighborhood. We lived there during the 2 most tornado-attacked years. Many tornadoes went through that neighborhood. If my mom saw me sitting on top of the swingset, she knew to watch the skies. She occasionally had to come pull me down by the leg, so she could take me indoors, because I wanted to stay up there and watch the tornadoes. Once, a tornado came a block away, picked up one of the mobile homes and rolled it in the air. We were trying to get in the front door of our house as we saw it fly up in the air. Mom was barely able to close the front door, because of the air pressure/wind from the tornado. I never forgot that sight.

Yes, Michigan does get tornadoes, doesn't it? My aunt and uncle and now, my grandmother all live up there in Brighton. I'm hoping to visit them, when that Expo happens. I miss my grandmother.

Tom, don't worry. We're still planning to be at the Expo in Valley Forge. All the finished cues and most of the cues in progress were safe in the house, when the tornado hit. We were able to save most of the wood, equipment and supplies, too. Life is good. :smile:
 
I only have 30 more picturess to crop and re-size, before I put up a mini-website about the tornado. We are working our tails off this weekend, still cleaning up and moving stuff, hoping we can beat the rain and snow that is on the way. We've had some awful wind to work through, today.
 
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