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The paragraphs below have been edited slightly and new information included regarding insurance riders/endorsements and the restoration of our house.

On Tuesday, July 3, which was exactly two weeks after the storm, we received the check in the mail.  Seems pretty quick to us. 

Allstate sent us a series of check for the total restoration of the damage cone by the tornado.  Mostly, they were timely and generous in the claim.  Technically we could have taken the claim funds and done with them what we wanted.  We were free to choose anyone to complete the restoration.  We chose to contract with the company that Allstate send out at their expense to temporarily cover the roof to prevent water incursion and additional damage.  In calculating the amount of the claim, Allstate estimates the cost of the repairs and then adds over 21% for profit and overhead.  The company I used has a parent company.  The parent company took the 21%, then the company I used took another approximately 21% and contracted with a small restoration company to do the actual work for less than 60% of the amount Allstate paid.  Had I known that I was paying $7000 for a general contractor, I might have decided to be my own general contactor.  I remember reading about FEMA contracting for debris removal in New Orleans after Katrina.  In the end, the people who actually did the debris removal got only 10% of the funds in the contract.


During this whole experience, family and friends have offered a place to stay, help cleaning up, help as needed, and warm caring support.  Very thoughtful and generous.  The inconvenience has been minimal.  Within an hour or two of the storm, I had moved our generator from the garage to the front porch and restored electricity to our home and ran an extension cord to the freezer in the basement below the office.  With the generator we have all electrical services except air conditioning.  Without the generator, we could have moved to temporary housing (two or three days) at Allstate's expense.

Several friends and family have asked what it was like during the storm and how we are doing.  Until a couple of minutes after I got to the basement workshop, it was no different than many thunder/lightening/rain storms I have been in.  Then the wind started blowing very hard and I could see one tree going down behind the garage.  There was no sound of a freight train and then the branches went down outside the workshop and the storm immediately diminished to a heavy rain storm.  It probably lasted no more than a minute.  It was so quick that I never had time to really get frightened.  I was stunned at the amount of damage to the trees and somewhat less to the house.  The experience has been unsettling and has required a tremendous amount of time and energy.  I am very pleasantly surprised that 10 days after the storm, we have done all the tree work except for some time I will spend over the next few days cutting up the larger pieces of the trees and turning them into potential firewood.

We have had a couple of thunder/wind storms (much like usual) since the tornado, and we certainly look at the experience the swaying of the trees in a much different light.

The landscape has changed dramatically, especially around the parking lot.  Not necessarily all negative.  The two Bradford Pears are gone which means the mushy pears will not be falling on cars parked under them in the fall.  Also, the flocks of cedar waxwings that feast on the pears will not be around as much.  I will miss them.  They are so beautiful (see the one on the bird page of this website).  When we moved here 23+ years ago, most of the trees on our property were rather short.  Now they are huge and obviously some are dangerous.  Over time we had less and less space where we could grow full-sun plants or grass in the shade around the house.  With the trees gone, maybe we can grow some grass and have sun plants.  We have way more firewood than we will burn in the few years that we anticipate still living here.

After writing this and receiving several email in response, I realized that many people reading this account have never visited our place in West Friendship which we call Bryn Gwadd (Mole Hill in Welsh).  I thought it might be helpful to briefly describe this wonderful piece of Earth that we are borrowings from the Universe.  We have 4.5 acres which are located about two miles from the headwaters of the Middle Patuxent River.  The river which is 15 to 30 feet wide and relatively shallow with a couple pools that are waist deep and 4 rapids runs through the property.  Approximately 1.5 acres are across the river from our house and we very seldom venture to that side of the river.  Only one tree was damaged on that side of the river and we will let it be.  The 4.5 acres have many (200+) trees of various sizes and varieties (native oak--palm oak, maple, locust, sassafras, hickory, tree-of-heaven, walnut, white pine, leyland cypress, mulberry, green ash, cherry, willow, cedar, poplar, star magnolia and probably a few more).  Thus, we still have lots of trees and a beautiful landscape.  See the last photo below which we recently took from the swing on the east side of our house.  Compared to the tornado that hit Joplin, Missouri (30 miles from my home town) or the recent flooding in Ellicott City, MD and Louisiana or the fires in California, we just had a minor hiccup.

We were out of town in late July when Ellicott City got hit by a 1,000 year flood.  We had a little damage from the river flooding.  Based on previous flooding of our property, we have learned to tie a rope to a couple of benches we have by the river and a decorative bridge over a very small stream that runs into the river.  One of the benches was washed into the river and saved by the rope.  We retrieved it and put it back on the bank.  During that rain storm we had some water incursion (the final roofing had not been completed over half of the living room) and some damage to the ceiling of the dining room.  We later cleared the living room, went out of town to visit friends (long ago planned) and when we returned on Saturday, August 13, the restoration was finally complete.


Following are some photos of the damage and clean-up. The last three photos are the house restored, the parking area after restoration and the view of part of our property.

Roger 


The top of the 24 inch white pine which was blown between the two Bradford Pears.  The other end is in front of the workshop doors.


The white pine looking down the driveway toward the main road.



The white pine between the Bradford Pears


Client's car looking toward the office which is almost impossible to see through the branches that are down.  The branch above the car is the top of one of the Bradford Pears and other than cracking the windshield did very little damage.


Top of Bradford Pear on top of car with little damage except cracked windshield.


Hole in the roof caused by white pine branch.  Now covered by a tarp.  Four rafters on the other side of the roof was damaged.


1/2 the branch that made the hole in the roof.  The other half fell on the other side of the house and did not have any branches on it.


Branch on the roof took the power line down at the light pole and hit the corner of the second floor of the house.


Tree on the roof and the front porch.  We painted the white cinder block wall and the red floor the day before.  We put the generator on the porch at the bottom of the photo.


Top of the white pine that fell across the driveway, between the two Bradford Pears and blocked the parking lot.


Ash tree that took out a small evergreen tree and smashed the fence around one of our gardens.


Garden fence trashed by the Ash tree


Robert cleaning up.  He removed (chipped) all the branches down on the parking lot which kept us from easily getting to the office.  He would pick up very large limbs with the fork on the front of his tractor and stuff the branch into the self-feeding chipper.



Judith in the area where the white pine took out the two Bradford Pears.  Now we can grow sun plants!  We are still adjusting to the changes in the landscape.


The next day, wearing a bright yellow shirt, Jay's worker removes a large branch that was hanging by a bark (as opposed to a thread).  The tree is a native oak which is called a Palm Oak.  Robert said that they go hunting in the woods for Palm Oak's.  I am not sure that they do when they find one.  We have at least 5 on our property.


Starting to take down the two Honey locust trees that are resting on the Tulip Poplar.  After removing several branch from the tree on the left it falls to the ground.  When the top of the tree on the right was removed, it continued to stand.


Another view of the locust trees leaning on the tulip poplar.


Worker on the branch between the tulip poplar and the neighbor's tree.  He used two safety ropes which were handled by workers on the ground.


Jay removing one of three root balls.


Partially restored area where 3 locust trees and root balls were removed.


There is a worker at the bottom of that pile.  They tied the branches into a bundle and put the bundle on their back and walked up the hill to the parking lot and put the branches in the truck.


A load of branches going into the truck.  Jay had sent his chipper back to Virginia for another job.


Large logs from three locust trees and branches of tulip poplar.  Could become firewood.


Judith is already making use of full sun.  Tree stump makes a great plant stand.


Two oakleaf hydrangeas behind the planter.


The roof repaired where the tree hit.


Overlooking part of our property from the swing east of the house.