Published Tuesday, November 12, 2002
Herald Staff Writer
After a tornado with winds of up to 155 mph tore up parts of Mercer County Sunday night, neighbors, family and friends gathered Monday morning to help pick up the pieces.
On Milton Street in Clark, which sustained the most damage when the twister touched ground, neighbors consoled each other and offered helping hands.
Charles E. Templeton, 81, of 22 Milton St., Clark, was killed Sunday evening when the storm leveled his house while he was watching television. His wife Georgette, who was also in the house at the time, was found above the rubble and taken to Sharon Regional Health System, where she was listed in critical condition Monday.
Mr. Templeton was an avid hunter and enjoyed fishing, said his niece Mary Templeton.
"Hunting and fishing was his life. It's all he ever did," she said.
Dean Parshall saw his home's roof damaged and a piece of lumber rammed through the side of his house. His brick patio was destroyed. But he considered himself lucky, pointing over at the Templetons' nearby home.
"We're very fortunate when you think of my neighbor," he said. Four 30-year-old pine trees were ripped from the ground in Parshall's back yard.
George Priester and his wife Edna were watching television when he saw a weather warning, but he didn't pay too much attention because it was about storms in Ohio, not Pennsylvania.
"Then before you know it, it hit," Priester said. "I closed my eyes and the roof was gone."
Standing outside his home Monday, Priester surveyed the damage. The front half of the brick-and-wood-home was gone and the roof was shattered. Broken wood joists were all that remained.
Will White of Nora Street said that after the storm hit he could hear a woman screaming outside. It was neighbor Cindy Wetzel. She was worried because her husband Bruce was trapped two doors down in their log cabin house. A roof had collapsed on top of him while he was sitting on a couch on the second floor. He had fallen through the floor and was stuck between a fallen chimney and the collapsed ceiling.
Tree limbs and debris blocked emergency crews from reaching the street where Wetzel lived, which prompted a rescue attempt by White, another neighbor, Todd Clary, and Dennis Barkinson, who happened to be visiting relatives at the time.
When they got to the rubble, they could see only Wetzel's hand sticking out. It was the glint from his wedding band that caught Clary's eye.
"We just started pulling bricks and uncovering his body. Eventually five or six volunteer firefighters came and helped clear him. We could hear gas hissing from his house. We had to pry the roof from him, he slid out and walked away," White said.
Wetzel walked away with only scrapes and bruises. He was limping Monday.
While some were helping to rescue neighbors, others were trying to rescue special keepsakes.
On Nora Street, Jim and Jan Scott searched through the mess that was their home for 25 years. Their garage, which had collapsed, contained a number of antiques, including a 1937 Plymouth street rod and a 1956 Thunderbird, all of which were ruined. The other 45 years worth of antique memorabilia, once safely tucked away in the garage, was not insured, Scott said.
"We're alive and that's all that matters," said Scott, who had to get 13 stitches in his middle finger after winds blew the cellar door closed on his hand.
Jan Passell of Thomason Road was heading home from Maryland Sunday night when she received a shocking call from a friend who warned her that a storm had just ravaged her neighborhood.
Though she knew there would be some damage, she never expected to return to a house that looked like someone had chewed it up and spit it out.
"Unbelievable," was all she could say Monday morning as she gave tours of her property to neighbors and close friends.
The living room could be seen from the outside, the roof ripped off and the front window blown out. Leaves, crumbled dry wall and shards of glass lay everywhere. A large-screen television, a grandfather's clock, furniture and carpet sat drenched with storm water.
"It can be replaced. I don't care. I'm just glad I wasn't home at the time. I would be petrified," she said, adding that she didn't have a basement to hide in. "I'm alive, thank you Lord."
Down the road from Ms. Passell, Michael and Raedine Listopad felt they were among the fortunate ones who managed to escape with only several uprooted trees, including one that fell on their car in the driveway, yard debris and a ripped piece of side paneling.
"It was just strange. Everybody was in hysterics," Mrs. Listopad said. "My ears started popping and it was over so quick. Then we came outside."
William Jena of Thomason calculated the tornado lasted no more than 15 seconds.
"My power went off and it was like a train had come, the sound, the vibration, the entire thing. Every window was broken and every room leaks," he said.
He and his wife Kathy were out and about at 7 a.m. Monday seeking comfort with neighbors.
The Associated Press contributed to this story