Tornado uproots tree in front of our house

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The night before last we had an F1 tornado come through our little town, no one was hurt and the damage was very minor but…..we lost our beautiful tree that was out by the river.

Tornado uproots tree in front of our house

I have taken many photos of my quilts under this tree as it gave the perfect filtered light. I am going to miss it!

My heart goes out to all of the people affected by Hurricane Matthew, I can’t imagine how bad it must be to go through something like that.

Builder Bob by the tree that fell down

The neighbors also lost a tree which hit the power line and knocked out power to the houses on that grid….we were on a different grid and kept our electricity.

A tree also fell on the railroad tracks but was cleaned up immediately. Everything on our deck and our neighbors were thrown all over the place.

I found one of my chair cushions by the rail road tracks behind the neighbors house! They had a glass top table that shattered.

Builder Bob did a great job attaching Iggy to our deck….he didn’t move!

Tree over the road but Iggy is safe
Fallen tree along the Mississippi river

See the bell in the background……I have hung many quilts on that.

Several people have asked about the flooding here in Iowa as we live along the Mississippi river. We have been very fortunate, the river came up about 4 feet but it wasn’t anything we had to worry about, and has been going down.

Here is why our tree fell down…can you see the water under the root ball….that is actually the level of the river right now. This poor tree has been saturated like this for almost a month.

Saturated ground causes tree to fall

We recently covered our deck and put on a new roof, I am so glad that wasn’t damaged. All of us are so fortunate that the damage was minimal to our homes.  Yesterday we were cleaning up and we found six dead birds. They looked like sparrows, the poor things must have gotten caught in the wind and smashed into things. They were in the front yard, back, and also down by the river. I never thought about how terrible a storm like that must be to birds.

Camper under a car port for protection

Last week my brother put up a carport over his camper (it ended up being a bit taller than he thought) and when we heard a huge bang during the storm we figured the carport hit our house. It turned out that our new front door which was leaning against the front of our house fell against our deck rail….I am amazed it didn’t knock the railing off as it is so heavy.

Scattered quilt on tree

Guess what Builder Bob is going to be working on this weekend? My brother lost a Red Bud tree that I also used many times for my quilt photos…darn it.

I will miss this tree! Here is a photo of my Scattered quilt on it.  I found my post on the Scattered quilt and it even has photos of the tree by the river if you want to see what it used to look like.

We have wonderful neighbors that are going to help cut up the tree. We sold our wood stove last year to a neighbor and he will take the wood.

Can you see the platform in the bottom left of the photo?  That is one section of the deck we had under the tree. When the tree fell it must have flipped the deck section as it landed right behind my jeep across the road.

cutting down the tree

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31 Comments

  1. wow, we didn’t have any damage near us, BUT….. read about it tomorrow

  2. Mary Baars says:

    When I read the comment that you lost a tree down by the river, I knew exactly which one. I loved seeing that tree when you posted a lot of your quilts. Felt so bad when I read that. I’m just so glad that you were safe. Things will eventually get back to normal after a big storm like that. We actually had a tree fall on one end of our house this past summer. Lots of metal roof and soffit damage. Luckily that was all and we were still safe in our house at the time.

  3. So sorry to hear about the damage, but thankful no one was hurt. It’s sad to see big trees fall.

  4. Sorry you lost your tree. ? Happy though because it could have been much worse. I know you are feeling blessed to have had minimal damage. Poor birds. ? Glad you all are safe.

  5. So glad that there wasn’t more damage. Tornadoes are such strange creatures….devastation on one hand and absolutely nothing right next to it. Glad Iggy is safe too.

    1. I feel the same way Judy…..this is the closet we have been to one, thank goodness it wasn’t much and we are safe. LOL and Iggy!

  6. So glad it was only trees and not homes and people, but we will mourn the loss of the beautiful trees and birds. Funny how we enjoy nature and take it for granted until something happens. I know I will never see a pelican without thinking of Pelly and his time with you!

    1. You are so right Sassy! It was just the other day that we were talking about putting up a pavilion by the river and decided we didn’t need it as we had such a beautiful tree……..pavilion next year!

  7. Like all the others, I’m thankful nobody was hurt and damage minimal.

  8. Pat Evans says:

    It’s always sad to lose mature trees. We’ve had 4 taken down in the last 5 or 6 years due to disease. They shaded our house and deck and boy do we notice the difference, especially this summer which was very hot for this area. I’m thankful the tree and tornado didn’t hit your house.

    1. I feel for you Pat, trees are so wonderful for the shade!

  9. So glad you and your family are OK, it is sad to lose a beautiful tree like that. Be sure to get some wood slices from it to play with – my post today uses them!

  10. So sorry for the loss of your beautiful tree! We have been losing a lot of trees to drought the last several years. They just topple in high winds. Tornadoes are so scary!!! Glad you are safe with not too much damage from it or flooding. We had tornadoes in our area this week, and it seems late in the season. The poor little birds! I still have a few single hummingbirds coming through… another one this morning. I worried about them in the high winds the other night. So glad you are safe!

    1. Thanks Miriam, we are the crazy people who don’t go to the basement LOL, so I am thankful we are okay.

  11. Minimal damage, but it must have been scary nonetheless. I’m glad you and hubby are okay, and all your neighbors.

  12. I’m sorry about your tree! I am so glad you are safe and did not have much damage!

  13. Tami Chaulk says:

    Glad that you got away without a lot of damage. I know how bummed you’ve to be after losing your tree. My family lives just south of Jacksonville and were lucky to get out pretty much unscathed as well.

    1. We are thankful it wasn’t the house Tami, I’m so glad your family was safe also!

  14. I’m glad you made it through that relatively unscathed. Bummer about the tree. How sad to see it downed like that.

    1. We were very fortunate! Better the tree than the house!

  15. Very thankful you are safe. Lovely tree that came down. Stay high and dry dear…

  16. That was a pretty shade tree down by the river. I’m sure you will miss it for more than just quilt photo ops. Glad damage was minimal and you are all ok.

  17. That is such a shame, but glad it wasn’t worse for you.

  18. So sorry about the loss of such beautiful trees, but glad you are all ok. I’m with you on worrying about others that are dealing with flooding from Hurricane Matthew. Thanks for sharing that you are safe. I do hope you one day have a special tree planting party.

    Big virtual hug. Stay safe.

    QuiltShopGal
    http://www.quiltshopgal.com

    1. Thanks Darlene, I can’t imagine what it would be like to live through a hurricane! Actually we will be putting up a pavilion next summer. When we ordered the trusses for our deck roof they were the wrong size….thank goodness Bob had them come out and measure. Anyway, they didn’t want them back and we have them. We talked about building a pavilion out front and then decided we didn’t need it since we had the tree……..I’m sure glad we kept the trusses!

  19. I’m so sorry about your pretty tree, but glad nothing worse happened!

  20. Sharon Vrooman says:

    You are very lucky with minimal damage – but to lose a tree, I cry when those magnificent ladies fall.

    1. We are fortunate but I’ll sure miss that beautiful tree Sharon!