Coping With a Storm

What used to be a grain bin lies near the underpass at the east side of Fessenden. Trees and tree branches have been displaced from where they’re supposed to be. The water that flowed over curbs abated quickly, leaving the debris of leaves and small branches behind for home-owners to pick up.

Water also flooded the underpass, which was closed for a time to assure safety while the drains did their job.

Several places in Fessenden will have new landscaping due to the sudden absence of the trees that once provided grace and beauty as well as shade.

The city park got a dousing and the golf course lost a few trees.

Part of City Hall’s new roof took a flying leap.

Now there are blue skies with some clouds; the storm was short-lived but savage in its intensity. 

Fessenden people take it in stride. In this neck of the woods (although there are few woods, and apparently Mother Nature has chosen to subtract a few more) storms are not uncommon.

Undaunted, as soon as the skies clear, people are busy picking up the pieces and putting them away. Chain saws are also not uncommon. Pickups and trailers are put to good use and the city dump will get another large pile of storm-related debris. 

A man pauses in his clean-up efforts. “I saw that the tree in the next door yard was down, then looked out in my front yard and one of mine was down too,” he says.  “The wind sounded like a big train going by.”  He laughs and adds, “I was going to take down those two other trees, and now this one is gone. I don’t know if I’ll still take out the others or not.” The truck he has standing by is filling with branches, not the first load to go out to the dump.

Another man says he was lucky.  “Only lost this one big branch.” The remains of the branch fill a pickup bed, another load for the dump. 

One couple has a new look for one of their evergreens.  The wind broke the top off and dropped it in their yard.  With the help of a niece, they glove up and get busy cutting and carrying to load a trailer.  It will be yet another dump run for them. 

A woman looks at a neighbor’s tree, now caught in one of hers.  She says, “The wind was blowing in exactly the right direction for that tree to catch the one that went down. It could have landed on the house instead.” The sidewalk is broken from the tree’s roots tearing out of the ground beside it.

South of town one of a local farmer’s new bins lies in ruins. A few miles down the road and around the corner another one has taken a hit.  The bins will have to be replaced as mending them is impossible. 

After this storm, as after many, the goal is clear:  clean up the mess and get on with life as usual. 

The City Work Boss gets busy with the street sweeper to neaten up the community’s streets while residents cut and carry big branches or trees, pick up twigs that litter their yards, mow lawns, and fill holes left by now absent tree roots. 

“What the heck, it’s just another storm,” says one resident.  “We can cope with this.  We’ve had to cope with lots worse things and we’re still standing.  We have to be strong and so we are.  We help each other when we need it.  That’s all there is to it.”