Tornado thank you letters

THANK YOU LETTERS FOR TORNADO CLEAN-UP

Webster’s Dictionary defines a friend as: a person who helps or supports something. Our definition is: people (some we didn’t even know) showing up within minutes of the tornado hitting our farm & wading through MUCK to ensure that cattle were in & fences were up. Staying until 2 a.m. to help Roger get the generator up & running. Finding out the next week that some of those people who were here had severe damage to their own farms & yet they came to our aid. Sunday a.m. – friendly faces arriving & taking charge. Knowing what had to be done & doing it! Food – Food & More food!!! Hugs – prayersphone calls! Looking out over our field full of helping hands – our young, very pregnant neighbor – not making any excuses pitched in next to her husband & 2 little children helping pick up the debris! Looking across the field & seeing the American flag that had been found in the field – flying on the back of a hayrack – reminding us of how grateful we are!! THANK YOU to all who helped in any way!!!!!
 - Roger & Ellen Buehler, Barry & Abby Duane & Donna Buehler

THANK YOU: After the tornado, there were many people who came to help with cleaning inside the house, boarding windows, pulling the pickup out of the rubble & bringing food & water. Thank you! Not long after Brian came out of the house, the Fire Department was here, checking to make sure everything was OK. Thank you! The next day, the number of people that showed up with equipment, chainsaws, rakes & a willingness to work was incredible. Thank you! As we looked at our place & all of the destruction, it was overwhelming. However, the number of people who came to help & brought food is almost more overwhelming, because of the great outpouring of love & support we’ve received. Thank you! We thank God for our family, friends, neighbors & church family, & we are very blessed to be a part of such a great community. To everyone who helped in any way, THANK YOU!
 - Brian & Jenny Buehler

THANK YOU: Where else but in small town Iowa can you have a major storm destroy a hog building after 9 p.m. & less than an hour later, 19 people show up (some you don’t even know) & are helping you move 2,400 hogs, working until 3 a.m. & then come back the next day to fi nish. What a great community we live in! Many thanks go out to Brad, Vance, Jim, Julie & Brian Lundell. Also to Brad’s hired man, Dakota Miller, along with his friends. Brian, Amy, Michael & Levi Streed. Les & John Fertig, Todd Steinkamp & son-in-law, Jason Hocker, Matt Stehr, Tate Wilken, Ben Scott & Logan Scott, Jenny Licata & Bria Vogt.
 - Mark, Brian & Bill Fertig

Photos of tornado damage to Fertig barn

 

(Click the photos to enlarge)

Tornado damage to Bill and Mark Fertig's hog barn 6 mi south of Ida Grove. 

Submitted by Brad Lundell on 4/14/11

Odebolt tornado damage reports

4/10/11 - From Barbara (Huldeen) Votrobeck -- after a drive around the affected area on Sunday.

 - Brian Buehler's garage is caved in, the barn is gone, and the corn crib across the road to the west is only partially there.
 - Joe Wadsley lost his machine shed, there's a big hole in the house roof, and the semi is on it's side.
 - Keith Mentzer is missing some old buildings and there is damage to the house.
 - Gene Diersen lost his barn and other structures, but house looks okay.
 - The house west of Wadsley's, where a Christiansen used to live just has four walls.
 - Gary Siebrecht has trees down and the place just north of him has damage, but we couldn't drive up there.
 - Dale and Sandy Ullrich live about a mile south of us and three miles west, just north of Shirley Hemer's west corner and they have lost several buildings and trees.
 - Travis Youngren, one mile east of Brian Buehler lost his machine shed.

We didn't drive up by Early, but apparently there's a lot of loss up there.

4/11/11 - From Kathy Larson

 ...we spent the day (Sunday 4/10) at Brian/Jenny Buehler's and Roger/Ellen Buehler's doing some major cleanup.  At least their houses are still standing (that's all that is standing at Brian's place and it has a lot of damage), but others are not so fortunate.   So much damage, but lots and lots of helpers.  At one time today I bet there were between 75-100 people at Buehler's.  Many worked in the fields cleaning up debris.  Odebolt is a wonderful community for helping out those in need.  Makes you proud to be a part of it.

4/11/11 Fom Vicki Beckman

Town of Odebolt,for most part untouched; path from Mapleton to nemaha hit and miss; Dale Ullrich farm, machine shed at the Youngren (Kessler) farm place, Brian Buehler place, Keith Mentzer"s place hit hard; Town of Early closed off and Red Cross was there yesterday afternoon. Mapleton by far the worst.

East Sac, OA-BCIG and Galva Holstein/Schaller Crestland were all having prom that night, something the kids will always remember!