Ruth and I have owned four different homes in The Villages. We bought the first in 2004 and owned it for eighteen months before upgrading to a nice ranch in August of 2006. I had a say in each purchase, but Ruth did all the decorating. I was still working, so I went down for long weekends and a week, or so, each summer.
One of the long weekends began on January 27, 2007. My mom, my Uncle Harry, and his wife Louise stayed with us that weekend as well. They arrived on Saturday and left Sunday. Prior to their departure we drove around the area so Uncle Harry could get a taste of how large The Villages was becoming. After our drive, they packed their car and prepared to leave. Harry paused for a moment and asked, “What’s that sound?”
“They’re playing pickle ball. There are several courts at the end of our street.” We listened to the distinctive sound of paddles hitting the hard plastic ball for a moment, and then they left.
I stayed through Wednesday and Ruth headed out with me. As we walked out the door Ruth paused a moment, looked back at her decorating handiwork and said, “It’s finally done. It took six months to organize and now everything is perfect.” She was going back to Michigan for a week-end with the Ya-Ya’s, a group of women who gathered two week-ends each year to play bridge, go shopping, and share the news of the day. She planned to stay Saturday evening with the girls at Devils Lake.
We arrived at our Lake LeAnn home the evening of Wednesday, January 31st , had a normal day Thursday, and were looking forward to the week-end when we got up Friday morning. I began my Friday in Adrian at the monthly meeting of the Lenawee County Superintendent’s Association. I was the second to arrive, and as I sat down next to Kathy from Hudson she asked, “How’s your home in The Villages?”
“Fine. I was just down there. I got back Wednesday night,”
She said, “They had a tornado last night. It did a lot of damage,”
I hadn’t heard so I excused myself and gave my friend, Jim, a call. He knew a tornado had hit and believed our house was near the path of destruction. He had tried to go over to check on the house, but the roads were blocked by security personnel. He said he would continue to try. I followed that call with a call to Ruth, told her to check out the news, and went back to my meeting.
Three hours later I was in my office watching the reporting on my computer. TV news crews had set up shop at the recreation center at the end of our block. I could see cars driving in the background as our cul-de-sac backed up to a county road. I couldn’t see our house, but I could see massive destruction between the rec center and the road. I could very definitely see half of a small red sports car wedged in the top of one of the forty foot pine trees that lined the road. The TV crew zoomed in on it.
I called Jim and told him of the traffic driving behind our home. “If you can get there, you can hop the fence to get to the house.” About two hours later I received a return call from Jim. He and his brother-in-law, John, had made it to the house. The only visible damage was a hole in the roof about two feet in diameter and some loose siding. They had a ladder, climbed the roof, and put a temporary patch on the hole. He went on to report dozens of roofs were totally gone and several homes leveled to the ground.
I got online and booked a flight back to Florida that left on Saturday. We received a report Friday night that although no one had died in The Villages, twenty-one people did perish in the devastation. We also learned that it was an EF-3 tornado, packing winds between 155-160 miles per hour, that cut a path across the then-south side of The Villages. Our home was one of about 1,300 homes and other buildings that were damaged or destroyed in Sumpter County. When it was over the tornado had made a seventy mile run through central Florida.
Jim and his wife, Diane, picked us up at the airport, and we spent the night with them. It was dark when we arrived so there was no rush to see a house that may not have power. We got up early Sunday morning, drove as close to the house as we could, and walked the rest of the way. We had to show our identification to travel the final few blocks as only homeowners were allowed in the area containing the most destruction.
When we arrived, this is what we saw.
TBC
I remember this so well. We were all very blessed, a lot more people could have died that day.