Putnam County tornado cleanup brings out hundreds of residents

GLANDORF - It was just after midnight that the twister tore down Road 13-I, shredding homes and smashing post and beam barns like they were made of twigs. But less than six hours later, friends and neighbors began showing up to help clear the mess. By mid-afternoon, an army of folks had shown, armed with rakes, chainsaws and sandwich spreads, whatever tool they thought might be needed.

For Mark Schroeder, it was a sign of hope in the face of overwhelming destruction.

"They just showed up with chainsaws and everything else. At one point, there must have been about 100 people out there," Schroeder said. "They just showed up."

The Schroeder family lost as much as anybody in Saturday's storm. The extended family has lived here so long the locals call it Schroeder-ville. Thankfully, nobody was injured in the storm, but the 150-year-old family farmhouse was destroyed, along with a brother's home just down the road. They lost about a half-dozen outbuildings, had most of their farm equipment damaged, and the field where they make their living are littered with splintered pieces of the family farm.

The hardest loss was the old brick farmhouse the family has held since 1860. Alice Schroeder, the family's 84-year-old matriarch, was asleep in a front bedroom when the storm peeled the roof back from the solid brick building. She never woke up.

"She's a little hard of hearing," Mark said. "If you look at the room though, you can hardly tell it was hit."

The house was hit hard enough that it's beyond saving, Mark said. Eight houses in all were destroyed in the storm, along with dozens of outbuildings. The largest swath of damage focused on Road 12, Road 13 and Road 13-I, although residents reported scattered damage throughout the county.

Volunteers from across the county spent the day helping with the cleanup. Some worked heavy machinery to move larger trees and sections of buildings. Children chipped in, clearing debris from the edge of fields and yards. Those who couldn't do the heavy lifting filled makeshift tables with food and drinks for the crews.

The help was appreciated, but came as a surprise to no one.

"Nobody called anybody, they just showed up. It's just what we do," Cindy Schroeder said. "A lot of the people are family and friends, but some of them are just from here and showed up to help."

Those volunteers proved helpful to local emergency personnel. Not only were they willing to chip in, they knew what to do, said Josh Walters, assistant Emergency Management Agency coordinator for Putnam County.

"Everybody's family. It does make my job easier because we don't have to bring in volunteers from outside the area. We're happy to bring them in when they're needed, but this is kind of like putting another card in the deck," Walters said. "A lot of our folks out here have some sort of farming background. They're used to buckling down and getting to work."

Officials from the National Weather Service confirmed Saturday afternoon that it was a tornado that came through the neighborhood, Walters said. They have yet to declare what to rate it.

Glandorf was not the only place hit by the storm. Officials in northern Van Wert County said a funnel cloud touched down near Scott just before midnight Friday, damaging some homes and barns but causing no injuries.  The National Weather Service said a twister touched down just south of Arcadia in Hancock County. It moved northeast into Fostoria before dissipating.

The tornado was on the ground for about 15 minutes and covered a swath of nearly eight miles. Meteorologist Frank Kieltyka said the twister took out entire floors in two-story homes and ripped roofs off ranch homes. No injuries were reported.

The tornado season has been particularly bad this year. With the year not even half done, 2008 is already the deadliest tornado  year in the United States since 1998 and seems on track to break the U.S. record for the number of twisters in a year, according to the National Weather Service.

Some point to global warming or El Nina for the increase in tornados, but meteorologists say they cannot explain exactly why this is happening.

"There are active years and we don't particularly understand why," research meteorologist Harold Brooks told The Associated Press last week.

  So far this year, at least 110 people have been killed in U.S. tornadoes. There have been 30 killer tornadoes  and a preliminary count of 1,191 twisters. The record for the most tornadoes  in a year is 1,817 in 2004. In the past 10 years, the average number of tornadoes  has been 1,254.

"Right now, we're on track to break all previous counts through the end of the year," said warning meteorologist Greg Carbin at the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla.

Carbin explained the most recent tornadoes  with just one word: "May." May is typically the busiest tornado  month of the year.