Floridians, battered, but resilient in wake of fierce tornadoes

[seafan]

Peter Baur, Daytona Beach News-Journal via Reuters



Alan Youngblood/Star-Banner



Doug Mills/The New York Times


February 2, 2007

PAISLEY-- When the worst of it arrived, when it seemed they had run out of tomorrows, Vern and Louedna Huber huddled together in the hallway.

In the predawn darkness, with pillows over their heads, the 81-year-old woman turned to her 87-year-old husband.

Thank you for such a good life, she told him. I'm lucky to have spent it with you.

PAISLEY--Louedna Huber learned that the couple down the street, the ones who sold produce, had died in the storm. She peered across the lake to where their home had stood only hours earlier.

"We were good friends," she said softly.

PAISLEY--Nellie Byrd sent her husband to the hospital. He'd just had a pacemaker put in and was complaining of chest pains. She stayed behind in her bath robe and her house with no walls.

"The good Lord protected us," said Mrs. Byrd, 75. She looked around and shrugged. "These are just worldly things. You can't take it to heaven. We'll pick up the pieces and move on."

PAISLEY--As the day wore on, the death toll kept rising. Thirteen, the officials said, more than anywhere.

Down on County Road 42, John Wable sat in front of the Forest Hills United Methodist Church, eating popcorn and reading the book of Revelation.

It seemed only appropriate.

"It says he will come like a thief in the night," he said. "You will not know the hour nor the minute."

PAISLEY--Back at Bear Lake, Greg Jennings, still cut and bloody, sifted through the splinters of his home. He found a belt. Found his lawn mower. Found his high school yearbook.

Just then, a neighbor walked past and shouted in his direction.

"I heard you were dead!"

Jennings laughed, as best he could.

http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Headlines/frtHEAD06020307.htm">NEW SMYRNA BEACH--Richard Giordano still doesn't know what happened in the pre-dawn hours Friday morning.

He awoke about 4:30 a.m. to find his dog, Doc, flying through the air.

"I grabbed him and landed in the hall with him underneath me," the 66-year-old New Smyrna Beach resident said. "It was pitch dark so I just stayed there until I heard people yelling and saw flashlights."

The lights were visible through the hole that was once the front wall of his Glenwood Avenue home's living room. The wall was lying on the front walk and the roof was missing almost 12 hours after a tornado ripped through the Islesboro neighborhood on the north end of the city.

"I have no . . . idea what happened," he said. "All I know is I did not walk out of that room."

DELAND--Worse off, Sherry Bauer was taken to Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach, where she was listed in serious condition in intensive care Friday night.

The Bauers and Lails are part of a "family" of crafters who ramble around in RVs, selling crystals and homemade soup mixes, seeing the country.

"This makes me sick. There ain't a crafter here who's got money," said Becky Lopez, a friend of the Bauers and Lails who drove from Haines City to DeLand on Friday afternoon when she heard what happened. "We do it because we're old and it's something we can do."

http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Headlines/frtHEAD05020307.htm">DELAND -- A neighbor's roof crashed through her bedroom wall seconds after she woke her husband, telling him to take cover. But the 43-year-old mother knew she had to reach her son's bedroom on the second floor of their DeLand home.

"It blew us down the stairs," Jeremy Bailey, 19, said of the moments after his mother got to him. "The air conditioner shot out of the window and hit us. All I could think was, "I have 10 seconds to live." I wrapped my arms around my mom and told her I loved her."

http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070203/LOCAL/702020357/-1/news">VILLAGES OF SUMTER COUNTY-- About five miles south on U.S. 441 in Lady Lake, members of Lady Lake Church of God stood outside a house of worship that had been reduced to shambles. Tim Thomas, 21, said he was the first member of the church to arrive on the scene. He and others managed to salvage some of the Pentecostal church's sacred items, like Bibles and flags that represent the Holy Ghost.

Thomas, who works at a nearby Publix, grew up in this church and has taken on leadership roles over the years. He now helps run a youth ministry, where children learn about the teachings of Jesus through the mouths of puppets.

"All my stuff is wiped out," Thomas said. "The puppets are gone."

http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070203/LOCAL/702020357/-1/news">VILLAGES OF SUMTER COUNTY-- Oak Hill Road, where Lady Lake Church of God has stood for decades, became quite the media circus Friday. Teams of reporters and camera crews moved up and down the road, seeming to rival the number of emergency personnel in the area.

As CBS Evening News anchor and former Today show host Katie Couric paced the neighborhood in black high heels and a New York Yankees jacket, onlookers watched, somewhat awestruck. Couric and her CBS crew, who had been covering the Super Bowl buildup in Miami, flew up to film the nightly news from Lady Lake.

[seabeyond]

1. last spring tornado season here was NOT. we didnt have scares at all

we also didnt have a winter. nor much of a hurrican season. i wonder of there was a connection. with the winter we have this year, and seeing this already,..... i am a bit wary of what is to come. spring in the panhandle of texas is a scary time for me. i would take the earthquakes (calif) anytime over the tornado threat.

[knitter4democracy]

2. My God. That's horrific and scary.

We're going to see if we can get a hold of some friends today who live near there. My God. Nothing's left.

[etherealtruth]

3. My father and his wif live 20 miles north of there ....

... through out the winter.

I panicked when I couldn't reach them yesterday ... mercifully I got through a couple of hours later.

Hoping your friends are safe and sound!

[knitter4democracy]

4. Just got off the phone.

One county over and safe. Whew!

[etherealtruth]

6. wonderful! n/t

[Jeanette in FL]

5. Phones were crazy here yesterday

It took me awhile to get through to my Mom who lives in the Orlando area, just south of the area that got hit. So I know the panic you speak of.

I live about 40 miles north of the area that got hit and it was one of the worse storms I have seen go through here. I am glad that your Dad and his wife got through it okay.

[etherealtruth]

7. Whew ...

Very glad YOU and yours are safe! Hoping you have uneventful weather for some time.

[Dudley_DUright]

8. The Volusia county edition of the tornado missed us by less than a mile

I ordered a weather alert radio later the same day. :scared:

[Jeanette in FL]

9. Wow, that is close.

I have always had a weather alert radio here in Florida, but after the 2005 Hurricane season, it died on me. Probably killed it between 2004 and 2005 hurricanes. Just didn't have the strength to continue. After the other night, it is on my list to get ASAP.

What kind did you order? Mine use to go off for every time the St. John's River had a ripple for the boaters. But the other night scared me.

[Dudley_DUright]

11. The Midland WR-300

It looks like you can turn on and off alerts for different things and it has the S.A.M.E. location selector. I hope I can set it to only go off for real emergencies and not ripples on the St. Johns.

http://www.amazon.com/Midland-WR-300-Weather-Hazards-Emergency/dp/B00009V2YV/sr=8-1/qid=1170456334/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-4855081-3571262?ie=UTF8&s=electronics

[rppper]

10. i live in port orange...it woke me up friday morning

the lights were flickering and i heard that god awfull "frieght train" noise...scarey indeed...i have a friend in new smyrna whose house was leveled...no deaths, he was trying to flip it, but he was storing a lot of belongings in it....all gone now...i hate tornadoes...i have lived almost my whole life with them. give me a good old hurricane any day over a twister.....

[Dudley_DUright]

12. Sorry about your friend in New Smyrna

The only good thing about twisters is they are over quickly and the damage is "relatively" confined, but I agree that a hurricane is much preferable (unless you live below sea level like in New Orleans).