86-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 27, 1998
Tornadoes Send Shock Waves
In Somerset Ag Community
GAY BROWNLEE
Somerset Co. Correspondent
SOMERSET - A firm but
gentle bumping at her thigh
finally awakened Velma
"Bunny" Miller from her semi
conscious state
Becoming cognizant of her
darkened surroundings, the 50-
year-old woman realized she
was lying on the ground, caught
under the treasured oak dining
room table that she had pur
chased two years earlier.
"It's just been in the last five
years I was beginning to get
some of the things I've always
wanted," said the mother of five
grown sons, some days later.
Hooch, the eight-year old
Shepherd farm dog was butting
her leg with his nose, as if his
sharp senses detected this was a
rescue mission.
Bunny couldn't move. She
was sure her hip was broken.
Wayne E. Miller, not knowing
what happened to his wife, was
frantic.
There had only been time to
shout "Tornado!" when he raced
into the house from his tractor,
snatched up Tawny, the
Pekingese dog, and fled to the
basement He trusted that
Bunny and Hooch were right
behind him.
Hooch was descending the
stairs when they instantly col
lapsed into the cellar. Bunny
never made it The vortex
sucked her and the table
through the walls at approxi
mately 905 to 9:10 pm on
Sunday, May 31, and dropped
them some 75 feet away from
the shambles of their former
home
The three-story house above
Wayne caved into the basement.
He received minor cuts, but oth
erwise, was not seriously
injured.
Lightening flashed again and
again. Aware that around him,
everything was flat—house,
barn, sheds, trees— Wayne
walked in different directions,
calling Bunny's name.
She kept answering but real
Community Pulls Together For Tornado
Some of the hardworking food service volunteers at . . recei
Salisbury, Somerset County, on left are Krista Yoder, Sheila Yoder, Eileen
Bonnie Foxwell. At right, Thelma Lanteigne and Natalie Foxwell.
ized that Wayne's partial hear
ing loss coupled with the wind
found him going in every place
but the right one.
Eventually, he heeded her
suggestion to look for the faith
ful Shepherd still holding his
post at her side.
The power was out.
Telephone service was down.
Driven by the will to get help
for his injured spouse, Wayne
seemed oblivious to the sur
rounding carnage. He made the
barefoot woman walk through
the field to the tractor, virtually,
the only vehicle that hadn't per
ished in the shocking onslaught.
Gray paint that had exploded
from five gallons stored in the
basement, in the terrorizing sec
onds of touch down plastered the
man, the woman, and the beau
tiful silky coat of the Pekingese.
At the end of the Red Dog
Road, Greenville Township, a
motorist, had a cellular tele
phone in his pickup truck and
summoned an ambulance.
Difficulties were encountered
from fallen trees, which volun
teers were trying to remove by
flashlight with chain saws, to
reopen the impassable roadway
to traffic.
The massive vortex had vir
tually wiped out whole blocks of
private dwellings and business
es in the hart of Salisbury, a
town of many stately, well-kept
Victorian houses, situated about
six miles to the west.
It had been vicious in both
Greenville and Elk Lick
Townships and the community
of Pocahontas, leaving wide
spread destruction and suspend
ing time for those who found
themselves unexpectedly home
less.
About two hours later, Bunnj
was en route to a local hospital
where deep bruises, but no bro
ken bones, kept her a patient for
three days Removing the paint
from her skin was the most
unusual part of her treatment.
Several animals perished and
others were sold as cull cows.
The majority of their dairy herd,
however, survived and, for tw<
and a half weeks, were milkec
somewhere else.
Then another extremely diffi
cult day arrived when one of the
hardest decisions they ever have
face! was carried out selling the
50 da*-y cows, which demanded
too mu-h of their time and
attention.
"We got nd of the dairy cattle
in order to spend more time here
to rebuild," Buhny said, explain
ing that next fall they plan to
restart the dairy operation when
the pregnant heifers give birth
in September.
"The heifers will come fresh
and we can start up again,' said
the recovering, but upbeat, farm
wife.
Less than 48 hours after the
Sunday tornado, on Tuesday
evening, a few miles north
northwest of Salisbury, Perry
Millard was cautiously eyeing
the clouds moving around the
sky above Mount Davis. He and
three sons were finishing the
barn work on the Pleasanthill
School Road farm that the fami
ly rents between St. Paul and
Summit Mills.
If he wanted, Millard could
drive to the top of Mt. Davis,
Pennsylvania's highest point
above sea level, in mere min
utes, to enjoy its natural splen
dor and wildlife. It's very visible,
as well, to his farming neigh
bors.
The man's dairy herd was
composed of about 95 milking
cows, many of them registered
Holsteins, Jerseys, and Brown
Swiss.
"As long as the wind doesn't
shift, 1 he commented to some
one in the family, "we'll be okay."
But things changed in a
Homestead
Notes
r in
'oder, and
Velma "Bunny" Miller is backdropped by the foundation
where her house once stood and the area where she and
the oak table were flung by a recent tornado. With her are
Hooch a big shepherd dog and Tawny, a Pekingese.
hurry. Millard watched as the
swirling vapors began their fas
cinating formation. "It was like
they were on a string," he
observed. "The clouds were
gathering and being sucked in."
In the basement the family
stayed until the funnel passed
over a nearby valley about 7:30.
The power went off and Millard
started the generator to finish
the barn work. It also provided
lights for the house basement.
His wife, Mayme, hearing the
local radio station's continue d
warning to seek shelter another
tornado was being traced in vir
tually the same path as its
Sunday evening predecessor lost
no time in relaying the message
GAY BROWNLEE
Somerset Co. Correspondent
SALISBURY (Somerset Co.)
The sun dawned brilliantly
on Monday, June 1, as Eileen
Yoder made her way to the
Salisbury Elementary School
that sits beyond the beautiful
lawns surrounding Claradale’s
homey farmhouse. The Elk Lick
Township farmstead is located
slightly southwest of the bor
ough.
With Krista, 16, and Sheila,
14, Eileen and her teen-aged
daughters, like everyone real
ized that, unlikely as it had
seemed, a great tornado, around
9 o’clock the previous evening
had indeed savaged their lovely
hometown. It also cut electricity,,
communications, and messed up
water systems.
To offer whatever aid was
most helpful was their inten
tion.
On the north side of town
coming seven miles from
Meyersdale was a Salisbury-Elk
Lick elementary teacher and her
children. Bonnie Foxwell,
Natalie, 15, and Tim, 12, were of
the same mindset as the Yoders.
to her husband.
" I took the pickup and moved
it to the field. I went to the base
ment and was there about one
minute and it hit," Millard said.
The noise that everybody who
heard it described as sounding
like a freight train, was muffled
for the Millards because the
basement walls were so heavily
insulated.
"All we got was a whistle, buy
you could hear stuff hitting the
house. It lasted five or six sec
onds."
"When I went out the door,
you could see it was a mess,"
Millard said. Lines on poles
were sparking and the heavy,
80-foot stave silo had fallen
across the barn.
"The cows were at the feed
bins and the silo came in over
them. You could hear the cows,"
he said. "You knew you needed
help to get the cows out.'
Lines and trees, trees and
lines, everywhere. When the fire
department volunteers arrived,
they worked 45 minutes to open
(Turn to Pago B 9)
Cleanup
More than anything they want
ed to be of use.
Authorities wouldn’t permit
the Foxwells to enter town. Only
emergency personnel were
entering its dangerous environs
Dangling lines and utility
poles hung frighteningly over
the streets. Building materials
littered the ground. Scores of
uprooted trees hid weakened
structures that stood ready to
collapse. Vehicles were crushed
into odd shapes. Glass, nails,
twisted metal, loose bricks and
wood were thrown everywhere.
One person had died, others
were injured, and searchers
went house to house looking for
any unaccounted persons.
Forty seconds was all it took
for the shocking twister to
reorder the lives of hundreds. It
proceeded to devastate and rip
up surrounding homes and
farms in Elk Lick and Greenville
Townships before fizzling out.
Foxwell had to bide her time
Yoder, whose prior acquain
tance with the educator was
casual, arrived at the school
cafeteria around 10:30 a.m
(Turn to Pago B 7)