Straight line winds do damage in
Mount Pulaski
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[April 10, 2020]
Haley Maus was at her parent’s home in Mount Pulaski Wednesday
evening around supper time when she literally thought something was
coming through the house. Haley was in the kitchen at the back of
the house and her mom and dad, Lynne and Randall Maus, were on the
front porch with their 5 year-old granddaughter, Tinley, when all of
a sudden the wind picked up.
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“At first it was just a little bit of wind and I could see
lightening in the distance,” said Haley, “and then all of a sudden I
looked out the kitchen window, which is about 30 feet from the big
tree, and I saw a bunch of black stuff hitting the house. I thought
something was coming through the house. It ended up being the dirt
and the wind hitting the house so hard when the tree fell. It shook
the whole entire house.”
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The 100-plus year old Catalpa tree was ginormous and the straight
line wind that came through town caused the tree to fall on the
brand new camper parked in the driveway. The Maus family had the
camper custom made last year. They only had the opportunity to try
it out a handful of times last camping season. Now according to
Tinley, “We’re gonna let them build the same one.”
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Randall Maus had just moved the camper out of winter storage and
onto the driveway on Sunday. “I wish I had moved the boat there
instead,” he said. “I could use a new boat. I already had a new
camper.”
Luckily, the enormous tree fell in between the house and the garage
and even though there is other minimal damage, no one was hurt.
“There is some damage to the garage and to the side of the house,
where there is a bathroom, they will have to fix that,” said Haley.
“They will probably have to put a new roof on.”
So just how big is this Catalpa tree? Well the Maus family has
measured the tree, in terms of people. The tree is so big it took
6-7 adults to wrap around it, according to Haley. "And that was
standing around the tree, with arms stretched out, from fingertip to
fingertip, to completely go around it,” said Haley.
“I remember, it was six people,” chimed in 5 year-old Tinley.
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The roots of the tree were simply huge, too, and took up a lot of
space in the yard once uprooted. In addition, the straight wind took
the power lines and wrapped them around the tree like Clark Griswold
decorating a Christmas tree, with some unnecessary help from Cousin
Eddie.
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It was still quite the mangled mess as a tree trimming crew was
working to clean up the fallen tree on Thursday afternoon.
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As Randall Maus walked around the yard, he pointed out something
interesting. “That limb hit the top of the camper and just blew the
window seals out and the windows fell on the ground,” he said. “It
just crushed the camper but didn’t break the camper windows.” The
windows laid fully intact nearby.
He was very thankful no one got hurt and there was no major
structural damage to the house.
Since the storm occurred quickly and in the daylight hours, several
curious onlookers drove around town to check out the damage right
after it happened.
Tinley stood in the driveway watching people drive by and as a
parade of people passed the Maus home on Garden Street, admiring the
downed tree and the crushed camper, the five-year-old yelled,
“Camper for sale, camper for sale!”
Nothing like finding a little humor in the situation, especially
through the eyes of a five-year-old.
Mount Pulaski resident Cheryl Poffenbarger summed it up perfectly as
she went for an afternoon walk Thursday and stopped briefly to see
the fallen tree. “Notice how it fell between the house and garage,
that’s God.”
Other damage reported around town included several trees being
uprooted and a trampoline or two tossed into the neighbor’s yards.
Several homeowners also reported damaged siding and missing
shingles.
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The Mount Pulaski Hilltoppers Baseball Team lost their dugout in the
storm. The home dugout at Bob Gasaway Field at Veteran’s Park was
destroyed as a result of the high winds north of town. Concrete
blocks and wooden and aluminum debris were blown toward the track
and soccer field, keeping the actual ball diamond intact. A positive
note even though there is no baseball going on at this time.
Fortunately, despite the damage all over town, no one was injured.
[Teena Lowery]
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