Month: July 2009

Photos from after Wednesday night’s storm

I stumbled upon this overturned pickup while looking at a torn apart apartment building across the street. That’s when I knew this wasn’t just some little storm.

This is the first house I came upon that suffered nearly an entire loss.

The remains of someone’s home.

Perhaps my favorite picture of the entire ordeal. I was amazed that the clothes stayed in the closet while almost the entire frame of the house had been ripped apart.

I walked into the Reisenauer’s apartment with them as they showed me where they were sitting when the roof tore off.

These people were great to speak with. The man who lives in this house was in his kitchen when an camper came through the wall.

The guys in this SUV were in there when the back windows blew out. They said they promptly jumped out of the car and began running for safety.

This didn’t tone well, but it’s a street entirely blocked by downed trees. Down the street is Highway 22.

I couldn’t believe how some things remained and some things were destroyed. The frame of hte house is bent, there’s wood and debris covering the entire yard, yet the basketball hoop is still hanging, as are the bicycles in the garage even though the cars were moved several feet.

These trees in Al Meier’s yard were uprooted from the storm. Luckily, that’s about the extent of the damage the Meier’s suffered.

Greg Wilkinson stands next to what remains of his home in south Dickinson.

GRESS COMPLEX DAMAGE

The banner picture of what the second field at Gress Softball Complex looked like on Thursday evening. Ryan Nelson of Dickinson Parks and Recreation said that the Miller Lite softball tournament has been canceled, all softball through next Thursday has been canceled (at least), and they hope to organize a softball clean-up effort sometime soon.

All the fences have leaves and trees blown up against them like this.

Passersby walk next to the second diamond.

More of the second diamond.

One of the canopies was completely destroyed by a tree.

A closer shot of the bleacher that destroyed the second diamond’s fence.

A closer look at the destroyed canopy.

The big tree that looked over the outfield on diamond three was uprooted.

More damage along the fence at diamond three.

BROKEN TREES EVERYWHERE!

Photos from after Wednesday night's storm

I stumbled upon this overturned pickup while looking at a torn apart apartment building across the street. That’s when I knew this wasn’t just some little storm.

This is the first house I came upon that suffered nearly an entire loss.

The remains of someone’s home.

Perhaps my favorite picture of the entire ordeal. I was amazed that the clothes stayed in the closet while almost the entire frame of the house had been ripped apart.

I walked into the Reisenauer’s apartment with them as they showed me where they were sitting when the roof tore off.

These people were great to speak with. The man who lives in this house was in his kitchen when an camper came through the wall.

The guys in this SUV were in there when the back windows blew out. They said they promptly jumped out of the car and began running for safety.

This didn’t tone well, but it’s a street entirely blocked by downed trees. Down the street is Highway 22.

I couldn’t believe how some things remained and some things were destroyed. The frame of hte house is bent, there’s wood and debris covering the entire yard, yet the basketball hoop is still hanging, as are the bicycles in the garage even though the cars were moved several feet.

These trees in Al Meier’s yard were uprooted from the storm. Luckily, that’s about the extent of the damage the Meier’s suffered.

Greg Wilkinson stands next to what remains of his home in south Dickinson.

GRESS COMPLEX DAMAGE

The banner picture of what the second field at Gress Softball Complex looked like on Thursday evening. Ryan Nelson of Dickinson Parks and Recreation said that the Miller Lite softball tournament has been canceled, all softball through next Thursday has been canceled (at least), and they hope to organize a softball clean-up effort sometime soon.

All the fences have leaves and trees blown up against them like this.

Passersby walk next to the second diamond.

More of the second diamond.

One of the canopies was completely destroyed by a tree.

A closer shot of the bleacher that destroyed the second diamond’s fence.

A closer look at the destroyed canopy.

The big tree that looked over the outfield on diamond three was uprooted.

More damage along the fence at diamond three.

BROKEN TREES EVERYWHERE!

Is this the twister or not?

I pose this question to you… I took this photo on the north side of The Press building looking south of town last night just minutes before our building lost power. Now, do you think this is what turned into the tornado that devastated south Dickinson on Wednesday evening? Or, is it just an odd-looking cloud that appears to be a twister because of my vantage point? I’ve showed this to a couple people and no one can come to a conclusion. If you take into consideration where this cloud is hanging, it’s easy to think that this very well could have been the beginnings of the tornado.

South side of Dickinson devastated

The tornado, or tornadoes depending on who you talk to, left a path of destruction unlike Dickinson has seen in years.

Nearly ever elderly person I spoke with while walking around the south side of town and taking pictures on Wednesday night said they’ve never seen weather destruction like what had just happened. Tornadoes and wind not only uprooted trees, the forces of Mother Nature tore apart buildings — mostly homes and apartment buildings. I talked to countless Dickinson residents who will be without homes or apartments for some time. I saw at least four homes that are now uninhabitable. Two were completely gone.

One man I spoke with was standing in his kitchen after his wife and three young children had gone to their basement when a motorhome parked on his lot crashed through the side of his house, nearly hitting him.

Another woman was with her two small children in their upstairs apartment when the roof was ripped off. I walked around with her in the apartment for a couple minutes before she finally said, “It’s all destroyed.”

Greg Wilkinson, known by most all as one of the three Wilkinson brothers from the cooky Dan Porter Motors commercials and the owner of Blue Hawk Video, was walking down the street when I ran into him. He stared at a house to the right of us for a moment. It’s garage was ripped off, the car still inside it. “Is that your house,” I asked. He said bluntly, “It was.”

The devastation on the faces of residents who lost nearly everything said it all. As onlookers descended on Dickinson looking to see a piece of the action, they walked the streets in amazement as the residents of those streets picked up the pieces. I don’t know how many people I saw hugging, or with arms around one another, as if they were trying to figure out if what had just happened HAD really happened.

The only bright spot out of this was that, as of now, it appears that everyone is safe. I talked to some friends from the EMT service who said they had treated people only for minor cuts and bruises.

Now that this ordeal is past us, I believe it’s time for our community to band together, support one another and help our neighbors pick up the pieces. I’m sure in the morning, we’ll see just how extensive the damage really was and there will be hundreds of helping hands needed on the southside to pick everything back up.

P.S. Due to the power outage, there is very little chance you’ll see the print edition of The Dickinson Press in a timely manner Thursday. We’re experiencing an array of computer problems because of the storm. To get all the information from the storm (as well as sports), go to our Web site.