HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1970-10-01, Page 8001iSitICH SIONA.L ST4It THUR$D.A'S OCTOBER.11. 97(1, . ..a..,...,
r
rr,
a
Looking tnrough a gaping hole in the roof of the dairy barn on the farm of Alfred and Bert Twisted steel and splinteredboards were once the roof Qf thoi main barn on the of the roof missing and steel torn from the sides. Only thousand chickens were
DykStr`a"the taxi gted-and"sh'edded`remains-of-the-f?ykstra's-silo-cambeieert--11Was-a-hitge-piece-of •--------D-ykstra..brothers' -farm—In._the._background-the_.chicken_barn..ean.,be_seswith pan_ rodc.d out through the roof:
the -silo that tore the hole in gte barn roof:
r.
arms take brunt of stor
Everyone who went through
the violent storm .that ripped.
• through the Clinton district on
" Saturday afternoon has his own
story. Clinton . News -Record
editor Keith Roulston tells what`
it, ,was like during and
immediately after the storm.
BY KEITH ROULSTON
Anyone who lived along
North Street South when the
tornado passed through thea
Clinton area on Saturday knew
at once- there would be heavy
damage.
The sky - blackened until ' it
looked more like late evening
than 3.30 in the afternoon.
Then the rain and the wind hit,
slashing down through the trees,
hammering windows like hail
stones and cutting visibility to a
few feet. The giant maples in our
front yard twisted and pitched.
They tugged at their roots like
dogs straining their leashes, but
they held.
At the height of. the storm
the reporter in me began to
show. I got my camera out and
a went out on the front porch to
' ,try to get a picture of the storm,
but it was so dark" I couldn't
even get a reading on my light
meter.
-
The storm barely let up when
the ,, telephone rang and a
neighbour passed on the word
that two es, ogre, down in .the
middle of the street just in front
of her"home. I went out to take
a picture but it was still raining'W,
so hard I could hardly focus the
camera and I retreated back into
the house to wait for the .rain .to
let up a little
A few minutes later another
neighbour reporterd a�wire down
at the corner of North and
Joseph' and, ' after •--.- -trying
unsuccessfully to contact the
PUC, I. put on some old shoes
and a waterproof coat, grabbed
the camera and dashed to the
car. With Joseph and North both
blocked off it meant a trip
around the block, butan
attempt to come up Alma to
Mary and then up town was also
thwarted by another tree and
some more wires blocking the
intersection of the two streets.
After another ,backtracking
around the block it was an
attempt to get through on
Huron Street. It too was blocked
'but already, only about 10
minutes, ,after the storm, the
PUC was busy clearing trees and
Wet.. while the police directed
traffic around the scene.
I parked the car and reported`
the downed trees and fallen
wires to Sargeant Leroy Oesch.
We went in his car to investigate
then toured the. rest of the town
to see, what. damage had resulted.
On Erie a tree was upturned by
the roots. At Rattenbury and
North some branches were -down*-
but not blocking the road. Most.
of the serious damage seemed to
be . confined to the west side of
town with only leaves and small
branches down on the east side.
Returning to Huron Street we
took a tour out into the country
at the west end and saw the
tremendous damage '.to the
Dykstra. farms. We went back to
report the various trouble spots
to the ,PUC and Public Works
crews. I- picked up my. car and
headed to the office to pick up
another camera, flash and some.
more film then headed for the
scene of the worst damage; the
Alfred and Bert Dykstra farm.
By the time I got there,
friends and neighbours had
already gathered. They got to
work at once doing what they.
could. In the dairy barn they
started clearing away some of
the rubble caused when a huge
chunk. of the silo came crashing
down through the roof into the
stable. They worked to repair •
the milking system so the cows
could be milked that evening.
Besides the damage to the silo
and the dairy barn, • the entire
roof had been lifted off the main
barn and deposited. in. bits and
pieces over several -acres, . Parti of
it had apparently. crushed a car
belonging to another brother,
Iichapl, ,.-.ho•' lived- -across _ -.the _
road.
Part of the roof of a chicken
barn eras also gone, along with
about 1,000 three -week-old
baby chicks that were sucked
out of the building by the wind.
At Michael Dykstra's farm
across the road, the damage was
perhaps not so . hedvy but if
anything, it was more tragic.
One of the farm',s three large
barns was now withoiit a roof. It
had been filled with .two -day-old
chicks. Now many were spread
over as wide an area as what was
once the roof. The rest of the
10,000 chicks were doomed to*
die from drowning and cold: .
It took little more than an
hour to get two rolls of fm,
shooting constantly to rec rd
the damage before darkness set
in or the workers cleaned up.
- By the time I arrived back at
the house about 5 p.m.- the
cleanup crews in town were
working to remove the last
remaining tree that blocked.
North Street. It had—been . an
unbelievable hour.
.Workers begin the cleanup inside the dairy barn on
- Dykstra brothers' farm. A * sictini'n of the rOof of
the
the
reeently-built barn' was caved in when parts of the -nearby silo fell.
t
84
o'ort.Otikbinit. Dykstrea faarwrl rook like a pletUre of an aircraft crash, as ttrev lir in 1 field t
100 dards'fr rn the barn
A' dry tl.
the tangled . steel, and broke Barber* were once this roof of a ihicke1ftedt from the storm a n and .
r 'Teri
' ♦ . -; ... ,, .... � A ;. .,. .: !' -. p. may} yyy��� y,� followed. rat Wld LII {7: Vim..
inearl+ a 'new barn, on Mtchae$ DVkstra's farm:, "'Teri Ootis and baby