Beech Tree News Network

Matthew Henry said, “After a storm comes a calm.” The U.S. has seen its share of spring storms this year, and spring is still young. The transition to warm weather usually includes “the beauty” of nature and “the beast” of severe weather.

Wondering about spring storms, I asked friends and family, “What is the worst storm you remember? Was there storm damage to your property or to property in your neighborhood this spring?” Their responses are listed below.

-The March 3rd storm damaged two storm doors on my house and a neighbor’s roof lost shingles on the southwest side. Another neighbor lost an apple tree, and I removed it for her.

-I can’t remember the worst storm, but it probably happened when I lived and went to college in Birmingham, Alabama.

-The worst storm I remember is when the tornado went through Bowling Green a year ago. I am getting a new roof due to the wind damage from the storm a few weeks ago. Thankful it wasn’t worse.

-The ice storm of 2009 was the worst. No damage, but power was out a long time. We had roof damage from the early March storm.

-The worst storm I can remember was the ice storm of February 1994. I had my daughter during it. We lived between Rochester and Huntsville and didn’t have power for two weeks. We came home to my parent’s because they had gas heat and cooking stove. We didn’t have any storm damage from the last storm.

-The worst storm I remember was in the late fall of 2018. Winds were horrible; straight line winds were in tornado range. I had mild damage, but the mobile home park I live in was hit really hard. Lots of damage to our community. Also, the tornadoes of December 10, 2021, were bad. So many lives were lost, and some areas were completely destroyed!

-The ice storm in 2009 was the worst as far as I’ve seen. I don’t really have a worst storm memory, except dealing with the aftermath of the ice storm. This spring I’ve had a couple shingles off the roof. No major damage, thank goodness. 

-There have been so many storms through the Simpson-Logan area.

-The 2022 rainstorm that we rode through in Tennessee on 4-wheelers. It wasn’t scary, just seemed never-ending and miserable.

-The ice storm in 2009 was the worst I remember.

-The 1977 or 1978 snow was my favorite; we were out of school for a month. A tornado came through Centertown when we were out in a field hauling hay and that was probably the most interesting. The only time I can remember being scared was last year in our basement when a tornado came through Hartford – I tied all of us together.

-The worst local storm I remember was the one two years ago that destroyed so many towns, Bremen included. In that last wind storm this spring, I think there was some wind damage around here, too.

-On US68 near the TV station in Bowling Green on April 15, 1994, a tornado dropped 300 meters from my 4-Runner, and I could feel the winds. The truck danced over the pavement toward the vortex. Then as quickly as it had come, it leaped skyward and dropped across town. It rained about 8 inches in 30 minutes and flooded the streets. This year, I didn’t have any damage.

-I guess the worst storm I can remember was in the early 80s, when a tornado chased the kids and me up 68-80 toward Hopkinsville. We had no choice but to keep going and got into the house, hunkered down behind a bed and dresser while it passed over. Terrifying. The recent wind storm caused considerable damage in my neighborhood – downed trees, roof damage. I lost one piece of vinyl siding off my house. 

-I was on vacation in Minnesota and a tornado came through. It blew roofs off cabins, took out the fish house, flipped cars, and left us without power for days.

-The worst storm I remember was the ice storm in January of 2008. We had no power and missed so much school! I was a junior in high school that year. During the recent storm, we had two huge pine trees fall down. They are at least 50 feet tall, so that was a major cleanup job, but we’re thankful our house itself wasn’t damaged.

-Weather storm that was the worst: Ice storm in Kentucky back in 2008 or 2009. We didn’t have power for almost three weeks. I had to go buy a generator and hook it up to my house then feed it gasoline for weeks. 

Worst “life” storm so far: The COVID pandemic. The initial scare, the ineffective response measures, the constant shifting of the narrative (masks, no masks, vaccines work, vaccines don’t stop transmission, etc.), isolation and death of so many sick people. The federal government lied repeatedly and spent billions to divide families, friends, and the country – sad and continues today in some parts of the country. I pray the rifts can heal. Greatest storm I’ve lived through. Grateful most everyone got through it and it’s over. I don’t want to ever have to live through something like that again.

Paulo Coelho said, “The more violent the storm, the quicker it passes.” Like most people, I don’t like seasonal-transition storms. This March, I had wind damage to shingles on the roof. Since it was minor damage (thankfully), my son-in-law fixed it. Severe weather is definitely a beast – hard to see any beauty in it.

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