Residents Begin Painful Cleanup

NAPPANEE - Today, in the bright, warm sunlight, people returned to Mikel's Mobile Estates to see if anything was left of their homes.

It seemed impossible that just hours before a tornado crashed through the park, destroying homes and vehicles. Some residents began to clean up and salvage their possessions.

"It's a big mess, a really big mess," said Dennis Chalmers. He is one of the trailer park residents who walked through the rest of the park this morning to survey the damage. He said he was lucky the storm only broke a back wall of his trailer.

"Eleven years of work - gone," Shari Klingshirn said as she looked around what was left of her home.

The trailer was completely blown away. Only parts of furniture and personal items remained in debris that came to rest against another building.

The clean-up effort already began for Klingshirn as her family helped her pick through video tapes and household items that were left.

"We're going through seeing what we have left," Klingshirn said. "I don't know what to do after that. ... Take one day at a time, that's all I can do."

Because residents were not allowed back into the park Thursday night, Klingshirn said she had no idea how badly her trailer was damaged. "I didn't have any idea," she said. "They told me it was gone."

Klingshirn said she was not insured because insurance companies told her they would not insure a mobile home or said the trailer was too old.

"There are some things that will never be replaced," Klingshirn said.

Across the street from her rubble, another trailer suffered little damage, not even damaging a TV satellite dish.

"We were looking at the black clouds and saw five of the twisters," said Irma Gonzales, another park resident. Only one window was broken in her trailer, but her son's home across the street was moved several feet off its foundation into a pickup truck.

Gonzales described five funnel-shaped clouds in a field next to her trailer. She said she and her family were sitting at a table when their neighbors told them to get out. Gonzales said she stalled as long as possible, but finally got in her car and started out of the park. She said the wind was blowing very strongly.

When asked if the storm was frightening, Gonzales said, "Not to me. This is my third one. I lived through two in Texas."

Carolyn Kaufman was one of the residents who was trapped in her mother's destroyed trailer. The mobile home ended up on one side with a large hole in the roof that rescuers cut to free Kaufman.

"It felt like I was in a hole," she said when the trailer tipped and trapped her head into the roof of the trailer. She said her leg and head were cut and she was treated at the hospital.

"I saw the black clouds and heard a weird noise." Kaufman described the debris flying into the air. "The next thing you know, you were in the air."

Park manager Don Miller said his main concern when he arrived at the scene Thursday night was to make sure there no deaths or serious injuries.

He said the extensive clean-up will take days. Most of the trailers that were damaged will be totalled, Miller said, since there is no way to fix the severe damage.

Frank Shepherd's trailer also rests on its side. He was one of the few park residents that had insurance.

Shepherd said he figured there would be a little damage to the trailer but "I didn't think it would be anything like this. ... It's an awfully big trailer to be picked up."

Another observer said the scene looked like a "war zone." Debris including insulation, glass and tree limbs litters the streets and empty lots. A large sheet of shingles lay under the rear tire of a station wagon that looked undamaged.

At the Mount Tabor Church of God, church volunteers were preparing food this morning and providing a place for the homeless to stay. Many area residents have already donated food to the church.

Volunteers said they will take names and phone numbers from people who would like to help, then call them when the food is needed.

"We're taking all we can get," Karen Stats, one of the volunteers, said.

The church was holding vacation Bible school when the storm hit. Stats said all the children were taken to safety in cloakrooms and bathrooms without windows.

Pamela Weirich said she warned her neighbors about the storm and drove away from the park shortly before the tornado. "I knew it was coming," she said. Her trailer sustained only minor damage. "I am relieved, but sad about everyone else."