You are not reading the Weekly World News. A tornado did touch down in Harford on July 26. The actual confirmation that it was a tornado came from Diane's neighbors at Tingley Lake who said they saw the news report on TV.
On Thursday afternoon, Kathy said she was driving back from the New Milford Hardware Store. She saw a dark cloud following her and this one wasn't in her imagination. This one had all the feel of Dorothy's experience that famous day in Kansas.
The storm was dramatic but passed quickly. The power went out and all attention went to survival mode. With loss of electricity comes loss of water since the well pump can't function. Power was lost on Thursday around 4pm spoiling plans for children and grandchildren to arrive to the Farmhouse for a visit.
The extent of the damage was unknown until Friday morning when the crew - Dan, Diane, Kathy and Mom - all headed out to The New Milford Coffee Shop for breakfast.
The jaw dropping extent of the damage was unexpected. In the village, one tree fell in a narrow strip between 2 houses on Tingley Lake Road and landed on a garage, completely demolishing it. A tree in front of the Harford Post Office became up rooted and hung threateningly over its roof.
At another home, the tree kindly fell on the gazebo rather than the house. I can't remember the rest of the damage stories I heard but I invite the witnesses to please post comments adding missing details.
Check out the news story at the WNEP website. there is video of damage plus interviews with witnesses. http://wnep.com/2012/07/27/harford-woman-says-she-saw-tornado/
ReplyDeleteThe damage was extensive. No electricity is extra difficult in Harford because you also have no water and no sewer. After the extended outage last summer because of Irene, we bought a generator that would run the well pump, the refrigerator, and a few lights. What I found amazing about this event was how many homes were spared. There was the massive tree that fell perfectly between two houses. It crushed the detached garage but it could have crushed either of those homes. I wish I got a picture of the tree leaning so precariously over the historic Harford post office. It honestly looked like God put up his hand and stopped that tree from crushing the post office. Our sleepy little town isn't so sleepy this year.
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