Thursday, August 26, 2010

Hurricanes? Tornadoes? What?

I don't know what to call the storm that hit our SKP Park in Benson Tuesday, but here's what happened at our home site. A neighbor emailed us the pictures, so I will take neither credit nor blame for the quality.

The skirting on our trailer is blown out a little bit. We'll call the fellow who installed the trailer to see if he can tuck it in for us.


Our storage shed and our barbecue grill were toppled. Must have been quite a wind!


This big mesquite tree is on the lot next door. It used to provide some lovely shade for our back yard. Not any more. We were told the winds were up to 60 miles per hour!

From the original phone call we received, I thought we'd been really trashed, but the pictures calmed me down.

Then the neighbor forwarded all these other photos showing damage at other sites, and we are thanking our God that we didn't have more damage.











How did that wind knock down so many trees and cactus? Plants that are native to deserts like ours have very shallow root systems. Water doesn't go deep into the ground here, so the roots have to be just below the surface to grab all the moisture they can as soon as they can. A strong wind can do lots of damage!




We are also thankful that we aren't there to clean up right now. Another neighbor has volunteered to tidy up our site. We owe Roy and Sheila a steak dinner for that, maybe even a dozen cowboy cookies!

The sad thing is that, like us, most of these lot owners are probably far away from the park and will have to deal with the damage long distance or hurry home to take care of it themselves.

Welcome to an awkward day in ... Our Life on Wheels!

8 comments:

  1. Sorry to see your damage , although it looks like you got off better than some others, isn't it great to have good neighbors who will jump in to help when you are away or physically can't do it yourself. Be safe out there. Sam & Donna..

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  2. I do remember that Mesquite tree behind your place & it was your largest source of shade alright. We have always found wind to be the dominant force of nature in the southwest & causes us more grief than any other single thing. Looks like you got off reasonably lightly but it's still difficult both mentally & physically dealing with any amount of damage. At least no windows were broken or your roof comprimised. Hope your big old colorful frog out the side didn't get all smashed up!!

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  3. It's good news that your damage wasn't worse, but oh my, that's a lot of damage in the park. It's always sad to lose shade trees. And when owners aren't there to survey the damage and clean it up, it makes it all the worse. But at least no people were injured.

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  4. You didn't say, but I am assuming no one was injured. Thank God it was only material things that were harmed. Good luck with your long distance clean up.

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  5. Sure must have been quite a storm to do so much damage. I was surprised to see so many trees down yet I didn't see any roofs blown off, so that was good!

    Your place seems like it didn't incur too much damage so that's great! Hope your barbeque's o.k.

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  6. Wow, looks like relatively speaking, you were lucky. Glad it was not more damage.

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  7. What a shame to have happened, but it looks like the trees took a lot of the hit from the winds. I'm glad you weren't in the middle of it, and feel sorry for those who were.

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  8. Oh, how sad to lose all those trees, bushes and cacti. Glad you didn't have any more damage than you did, and our hearts go out to those with more problems to deal with.

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