(Reader tip: Hitting refresh multiple times will provide you three pictures of the affected homes.)
Bruce Burkhart was casually watching television in his home just west of Winfield when Tuesday’s quick-hitting wind and rain storm made fast work of Burkhart’s roof and a camper in his yard.
“Just like that, in the snap of a finger, the winds came, and the rain came. It sounded like a freight train was coming through the roof,” he says.
Burkhart’s home at 17854 67th Drive appears to be amongst the hardest hit as an intense stretch of high wind, heavy rain and hail swept through Cowley County during the late evening. Nearly half of the rural home is now without a roof and a covered patio area was demolished.
The timing couldn’t be much worse for Burkhart and his fianc?, Piper Hall, they’ve only lived in the home about a year and had planned to be married there in July. Obviously, those plans could change.
“Right now I’m not sure what’s going to happen,” he says. “I’m from Maine and my family already has their tickets out here. They’re coming no matter what.”
In Burden, Rick Hopper is having his own problems.
High winds fell a tree near his rental property at 515 Chestnut. It was a large, old and heavy tree that buckled sheet rock in the living room and busted through beams in an attic before ripping a hole in a bedroom ceiling.
The power was out in the bedrroom this morning and a large part of a limb was still jutting into the home.
“It’s a big tree,” he says. “I’m not sure I’ve got a big enough saw for it.”
Hopper, who has owned the property for about 2 years, rents the house to owners of a nearby dairy and an employee of the dairy was living there. There were people home at the time of the storm who escaped the affected areas just before the tree fell.
“No one was hurt, that’s the main thing, it could have been a tragedy,” he says. “This could have been a lot worse than it is.”
Both Hopper and Burkhart say they’re waiting to talk with an insurance adjuster before knowing anymore about damage estimates.
Burkhart has some electrical know how and was able to turn power to this home to make the situation a little safer. With time on his hands before clean up can begin, Burkhart has had time to look around his neighborhood and see people nearby who escaped the brunt of the storm.
“It’s just weird that I look around and see people with a few limbs down,” he says. “And I’ve got all this damage. I can’t explain it.”
