812-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 29, 1998
(Continued from Page B 2)
the healthy stance of wheat
showed no damage from the for
mer tornado. But the wheat camof
lagcd danger that inflicted heavy
losses to equipment.
“I had spent $20,000 to fix the
combine after it was damaged
from the tornado. I just got it back
and before we even had one-fourth
of the bin filled, I had three flat
tires and had to constantly stop
because of all the debris we were
running into,” Mertz said.
Frustrated by the impossibility
of harvesting at that rate of speed, a
neighbor, whose religion doesn’t
allow rubber tires, offered his
steel-wheeled equipment to finish
the wheat harvesting.
After the wheat was cut, a group
of neighbors walked lire fields
again and picked up six or seven
more nailer loads of debris.
“And it isn’t cleared yet. Evcty
time we walk the fields, we keep
finding stuff,” Lany said.
The inside of the Mertz home is
no longer a haven to relax. For the
last three months, they have
endured the constant peppering
shots of a nail gun, the whine of
saws, and hammering. Workman
are everywhere.
And danger is rampant for the
Mertz’s grandchildren who live on
the properly and are constantly
underfoot. The small children
can’t seem to get in the habit of
wearing shoes and have sustained
numerous cuts and imbedded met
al on their bare feet. Curious, the
children like to watch the work
men, but the adults worry about
injuries to chi Idren who sometimes
get in the way.
Despite the family’s best
efforts, splinters of glass continue
to be found in upholstery, beds,
floors, and furnishings. Floors are
muddied from ongoing traffic.
Recently, the Mertz family
recounted how they had been on
die lookout for a tornado since they
had heard of a tornado watch
retried on the weather channel in
May. Larry and Carol had even
summoned family members who
live in a modular home on the farm
to seek shelter in the basement.
After the weather channel lifted
tlie warning, die family assumed
Community Pulls
Together During
Tornado
The losses victims suffer from
tornados is phcnomental, and not
something anyone would choose.
Although many neighbors escape
the ravages of tornados, they too
experience losses. And what
makes this significant is that their
losses are voluntary. “Many
people went without a paycheck
the week after the tornado because
they were here everyday cleaning
up,” Judy Kurtz said of the com
munity help lliey received after a
tornado destroyed their home and
farm property.
Numerous neighbors provided
meals everyday for two weeks dur-
After Tornado
‘You've Got To Do
What You’ve Got To Do’
danger was over and returned to
life as usual.
An hour later, the lights went
out and the wind started blowing.
The tornado struck before the cou
ple could pull the basement door
shut.
“By the time we got to the base
ment, it was all over,” Carol said.
They had heard the shattering
glass and the roof sucked off the
house. When they went outside
and saw the devastation, one of the
sons asked, “Is it worth
rebuilding?”
That first night, neighbors
helped to stretch a tarp across the
attic to keep the rain from damag
ing the rest of the house.
Electrical lines were installed
from the house to power up the
computer to transmit data back and
forth to the milking parlor. Fortu
nately the milking parlor computer
ran the milker after it was hooked
up to the generator.
By 2:30 a.m., the generator was
miming and feeding was begun.
The family started milking at the
usual time at 3:30 a.m.
Generators were used for milk
ing for three days.
“I didn’t sleep for three nights,”
Lany recalled, remembering the
stress and pressure of caring for the
herd and coping with cleanup.
“The cows held up better than I
thought,” Lany said.
Although the cows initially
panicked and one split from hying
to escape a cement block wall,
amazingly milk production
remained steady. However, the
herd has had five abortions since
the tornado—a side effect that Lar
ty attributes to the tornado.
They also seem a bit nervous
from all the noise of rebuilding.
Some of the herd is registered,
but Mertz and his sons are more
interested in seeing how much
milk goes into the tank rather than
pedigrees. Members of DHIA, the
herd has a rolling herd average of
about 22,000 pounds.
The Mertz’s estimate they have
$300,000 damage from the torna
do. They are unsure how much will
be covered by insurance.
“We did things to save the insur
ance company money. The bam
peak isn’t as high so we lost stor
(Tmn to Page BIS)
Cleanup
ing cleanup efforts in Berks Coun
ty. In order to cook and serve
sometimes as many as 300 persons
during cleanup, homemakers were
unable to clean their own homes
and keep up with yardwork. hi
addition to volunteering time, they
spent their own money to provide
food for the crews.
Life hasn't been normal for
much of the community.
“These times really help you get
to know your neighbors better,”
said Beth Kurtz, sister-in-law and
neighbor to Luke Kurtz, the farm
that was destroyed by the tornado
on May 31.
“Some days we just want to give up. But we can’t let it like this. This is what we do,"
Larry said of forming. Larry and Carol, her mother Marion Fitzgerald, sons Mike and
Steve, and grandchildren Chad, 10, and Evan, 6, and Allen, 14, find that milking 130
cows and farming 385 acres are not easy tasks while cleaning up tornado damage,
said arC StreSSed to the max * We ’ re working day and night with no end in sight,” Larry
/ ,
The Mertz family is grateful to the many volunteers who helped rebuild and cleanup
after tornado damage. r
jjjysreaar* ter cleanup crew * durinß ** many *" k * o ' , ° ,n,K ' o
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