Storm Damage
While visiting the Grand Lake area over the Memorial Day weekend, soon after the devastating Joplin tornado, we took a boat ride on the lake with friends. It was a warm day and the air was so pleasant as we sped over the water.
As we sailed around, I suddenly noticed a swath of land on which the trees appeared to be stripped. On each side of the swath there was plenty of vegetation, but we were obviously looking at the path of a tornado. We had heard that it hit in the lake area and had seen lots of uprooted trees near where we were staying, but what we were looking at now was on the other side of the lake and much more than uprooted trees.
As we drew closer to the shore, we could see boat docks overturned and ramps that looked like they had been wrung like washcloths. They were completely twisted from end to end.
There were hundreds of homes that were covered in blue tarps because the roofs were damaged or even non-existent. There were homes that were nothing but piles of rubble. There were concrete slabs where homes once stood.
We heard later about people who had to pay thousands of dollars to have huge old trees lifted from their homes, just to begin the process of clearing and cleaning to rebuild. There are many areas around Grand Lake that have huge homes valued in the hundreds of thousands of dollars (and more). Those that stood in the pathway of the tornado had been damaged, some beyond repair, some only slightly. Whether a half-million dollar mansion or a small cabin made no difference; the fickle nature of tornadoes was evident.
We were astounded at the amount of damage we saw. Probably we hadn’t heard of the strength of the storm at Grand Lake, because the level of damage and the injuries and fatalities in Joplin, Missouri, was more newsworthy. Residents at Grand Lake knew, however, that they “dodged the bullet” and some even went to Joplin to help with recovery efforts.
We enjoyed the lake and the holiday weekend, but our first-hand view of the power of the earlier tornado reminded us not to take our days for granted.
Memorial Day Weekend
Many people celebrate the Memorial Day weekend by decorating family graves and honoring servicemen and servicewomen, as is so very appropriate. The weekend is often used for family gatherings and picnics, and many choose to “go to the lake,” wherever that might be, and enjoy a weekend get-away.
We took the opportunity to utilize a cabin at Grand Lake and enjoyed a little family time and a lot of relaxation time. The cabin was actually an older 3 bed, 2 bath home on a cove in the Duck Creek area. The lake could be seen from the patio and a boat dock was just a short walk down the sloping lawn. All the comforts of home plus a great location!
Two of our grandsons were in the same area, visiting their other grandparents, so the granddads and boys had some fishing time at the boat dock. While most of the time seemed to be spent untangling fishing line and no fish were caught, it was obvious that they all had a good time being together. Yes, it does tend to make one nervous when a four-year-old is standing on the edge of the dock, playing with the worms that were supposed to be bait, not pets, but there were no mishaps.
Much of our time was spent on drives, reminiscing about growing-up experiences in northeast Oklahoma. One side trip took us over the Grand River Dam and the spillways beyond, where the rain-swollen lake produced quite a show as it rushed through the open gates of the spillway.
On another drive we wound up following a side road to the Boy Scout camp that had played an important part in Jim’s life as a boy. It was a bittersweet trip, though, when the vital camp turned out to be closed and in deteriorating condition, obviously not used for some time. But oh, the memories it has provided for years!
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- Pet worms AKA bait!
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- Fishing from the dock at Grand Lake
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- Fishing with Grandpa
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- Grand River Dam spillway
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- Boy Scout Camp, Grove, OK
They say “You can’t go back!” Well, you can, but you must be prepared to see change – sometimes it’s an improvement, but it isn’t that unusual for the changes to demonstrate that we’ve grown older, our memories embellished over time.
They still make us smile…
