A day they’ll ; never forget; A year later, Kent Island ; reflects on tornado’s force
Sunflowers, coneflowers and forget-me-nots.
For her, they're a reminder of the tornado that devastated
But she doesn't need to look at the flowers- reminders are all around her.
One year later, the worst of the damage has been hauled away and repaired, thanks partly to neighbors helping neighbors. Yet
Bay City neighbors like Kathy and
Wiseman woke up early that morning to the sound of water gushing through her home. She stepped out onto the massive tree branch that crashed through her living room ceiling, instead of stepping on her hardwood floors. She saw the notification on her cellphone that a tornado was coming after it had already blown through.
Her home has been rebuilt, thanks to insurance.
"It looks like my home now," she said.
While the inside of her house feels familiar, Wiseman is still adjusting to her new yard.
What used to be her own shady forest is now a sun-drenched field after Wiseman lost more than 30 trees behind her house. Wiseman had never been able to see her neighbors' houses before, but now she can see not just her immediate neighbors, but those two or three houses over. The exposure feels strange to them.
A cluster of flowers she planted out back were not as sun-loving as the ones the tornado planted for her. With no shade, they are now brown and crispy. Recently, she burned her hand opening her front door. The handle had always been shaded by trees.
"I think instead of Bay City we should change the name to
Some reminders are tangible; some are not.
Kathy and
They don't plan on forgetting what
Trotter said she woke up that night with pain in her side. Looking back, she thinks it was caused by the barometric pressure change brought on by the approaching tornado. Her husband was sleeping beside her when she got the alert on her phone.
"(The wind) sounded like a freight train. I've never seen wind like this in my life,"
For the Trotters, recovery isn't just about a new sidewalk or replaced cars. It's about community.
"That's how I got to meet everybody," he said. "Before you would drive down the road and someone would beep their horn at you and you would wave but wouldn't know who they are. Now we know who they are. We know all our neighbors by name."
The Trottersremember the 30-year-old oak tree uprooted from their yard, but they also remember people like
Kruse, who lives on
"Getting those people just something as simple as trees did a lot to restore their hope that life was eventually going to come back to normal," Kruse said.
The Trotters are also thankful for the Queen Anne's County commissioner and Gov.
Not everyone is as fortunate as the Trotters and Wiseman, and they know it. Some homes have yet to be rebuilt.
"It was nice to see the trees brought back to life in spring,"
Though many have their homes, and their cars and their trees back, "normal" may not ever be the way things are again. Not completely.
Farmer John's produce stand, a longtime
"Todd, I just went by the stand... it's all gone."
The stand had been blown about 100 yards into the woods behind
Cimaglia was able to get the stand going again with assistance from a
"It's been a struggle," Cimaglia said. "If I knew back then what I knew now, I would have never gotten it going again."
Back in Bay City,
Zoey doesn't remember that, but she does remember living in the house before the storm. Now she calls it "the new house."
In the kitchen of her home just steps from the
Hearing thunder and rain, Phelps walked onto the bedroom balcony that overlooks the bay. "I love thunderstorms so I said to (my partner), 'Hon, you gotta see this storm! It's beautiful!'"
Then she was faced with a wall of water. "It looked like we were in an aquarium," she recalled. "It looked like we were underwater."
Then she heard the tree crash on the Trotters' car.
Phelps and Trotter now dread every storm. Trotter anxiously checks the weather app on her phone. Instead of walking outside to admire an approaching storm, Phelps prays.
Credit: By
Caption: When Don and
A surprise garden of coneflowers grew spontaneously in front of
A downed tree from last year's tornado remains where it fell.
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