Westmoreland tornado victims feel loss, neighborliness
Little by little, Dolores Marcheleovich is picking up the pieces of a life that was shattered when a tornado ripped through her Hempfield home on Wednesday.
"For the first couple of days, I couldn't handle it," Marcheleovich, 65, said on Friday outside the Fosterville Road home her late husband built 41 years ago. "You'd just sit there and cry. You try to focus on what you're doing, but you feel so lost."
But yesterday brought good news. An engineer said the home was safe to enter, so Marcheleovich and her family could begin salvaging her belongings.
"It's getting better every day, but it's going to take a long time, and it's something you're not going to forget," she said.
In Hempfield and Sewickley townships, victims of the tornado that spiraled over nearly a 7-mile path were cleaning up and figuring out their next step.
The tornado, which generated 120 mph winds, caused an estimated $4.5 million in damages, according to Westmoreland County Emergency Management officials. An estimated 90 homes were severely damaged.
Dan Stevens, agency spokesman, stressed that's a preliminary estimate.
"That's the number we got so far. Without much of a doubt, that number will go much higher," he said.
In the hard-hit Fort Allen neighborhood of Hempfield, 13 homes have been declared uninhabitable, Stevens said.
The hard times have brought people together.
Volunteer cleanup efforts will get under way in earnest today in both townships.
A contingent of off-duty Pittsburgh police officers, firefighters, public works employees, equipment operators and volunteers from city unions will arrive in the county this morning to help.
Chuck Hanlon, vice president of the Fort Pitt Lodge No. 1 of the Fraternal Order of Police in Pittsburgh, said the work party will bring backhoes, dump trucks, garbage trucks and small earth-moving equipment.
Doug Kasic, president of the Yough Education Association, organized about 30 teachers from the union group to help in Rillton today.
"These kids are part of our family, too, and this hit too close to home," he said. "It's a close-knit community and a close-knit district. When something like this happens, we want to do whatever we need to do."
Members of Hempfield Area High School student council and the girls softball team will help their neighbors, as well.
In the meantime, school district officials hope to reopen all of its schools on Monday, barring any setbacks, Assistant Superintendent Andy Leopold said.
Leopold said structural engineers inspected the high school and said the roof appears "to be in good shape. If you walked into the high school now, you wouldn't know there was a storm. The only area we can't get into right now is the auditorium."
Leopold said after-school activities, including the school musical set for April 8 and 9, may have to be rescheduled.
Tornado damage will force St. John's Harrold Reformed United Church of Christ to move its Sunday services to the nearby Baltzer Meyer Historical Society building at 9:30 a.m.
Tom Schoaf, vice president of the church council, said the bell tower and roof were damaged, causing water to get into the building. He expects services to resume in the church next week after contractors make repairs.
Insurance claims have spiked because of the storm, especially for car damage. Agent Greg Mills said his Greensburg and Jeannette offices have fielded 110 vehicle claims and 20 home claims. Two of the homes appear to be total losses.
"From what I hear, (Erie Insurance has been) calling adjusters from all over the state, if not outside the state," Mills said. "They'll probably be working overtime for a couple of months on this."
He said tornadoes are covered under a basic homeowner's policy. Claims are unlikely to cause an increase in premiums because of the relatively small area impacted. It's not like car insurance, where premiums would increase because of poor driving records.
"They will not penalize an individual over this," Mills said.
Bob Boice expects a lot of friends to come to his farm this weekend to start clearing the wreckage of a 150-year-old log barn and a metal shed the tornado destroyed. Boice used the barn to store equipment for his 93-acre farm near the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Hempfield, where he raises sweet corn and other vegetables.
"That was a well-built building right there that couldn't stand it," he said.
Boice said he'll have to get a crane to lift some of the heavier pieces. Rebuilding the barn depends on insurance.
"There seems to be a lot of ifs," he said.
The tornado has taken an emotional toll.
Sewickley Township officials restricted access to General Braddock Road, where 17 homes were damaged, to residents, contractors, utility workers and others working on cleanup and rebuilding. Only authorized people who obtained wristbands at the Rillton Fire Hall were allowed on the road, and state police were monitoring it.
Township emergency management coordinator Paul Rupnik Jr. said the system was necessary to keep looters away and to honor residents' request to keep the media out.
"The residents felt they could use some privacy in their time of trouble," Rupnik said. "A lot of them are emotionally at their wits' end. Some of these people have valuables scattered through the debris field."
Some residents were having roofs and electrical repairs performed yesterday. At least two of the homes may be structurally unsound, he said.
"I don't know where these people even start," Rupnik said. "The damage is so severe."
For some, help may be coming from cable TV.
A producer from a new A&E network show, which quickly rebuilds homes affected by disaster, was expected to arrive in Fort Allen last night.
The show was in contact with Corey and Courtney Ansell, whose Mohawk Drive home lost its roof and is uninhabitable.
"We're very interested in talking to them, because two weeks sounds so much better than eight months," said Courtney Ansell.
Greg Kurtiak hopes he'll soon be able to buy the home he put a bid on the day before the tornado damaged the Millersdale Road home he was renting in Hempfield.
He's been staying there without power and heat, using a tarp to cover part of the roof and protect his belongings.
Kurtiak and his family have been collecting belongings flung far and wide when his two-car garage collapsed. His girlfriend, Elinor Sossong, hopes she can find a hot dog fork that her late father made for her. He used driftwood he gathered in Canada, where they vacationed.
One thing they found surprised them.
Kurtiak watched helplessly as the tornado swept away the unnamed stray cat they had cared for since summer.
On Thursday morning, the cat reappeared on the front porch. In the spirit of "The Wizard of Oz," it now has a name.
"It's Dorothy," he said.
Additional Information:
Help available
The American Red Cross Westmoreland-Chesnut Ridge Chapter will continue to provide meals for tornado victims today.
The agency is distributing meals to affected homeowners in the Fort Allen, Adamsburg and Rillton areas, as well as in the Fort Allen and Adamsburg fire halls and the Hempfield municipal building. Lunch will be served at noon and dinner at 5 p.m.
Red Cross officials are encouraging homeowners to apply for emergency financial assistance in the Hempfield municipal building, 1132 Woodward Drive. Even insured homeowners may be eligible for some assistance to help with immediate needs.
Cleanup kits are available in the municipal building between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. today. Those who need help during off-hours can call the chapter office at 724-834-6510.
Donations to a local disaster relief fund can be made at www.westred.org or by mailing a check to the American Red Cross, 351 Harvey Ave., Suite B, Greensburg, PA 15601; memo Local Disaster Relief.
Additional Information:
Volunteers needed
Volunteers willing to help with tornado cleanup in Hempfield and Sewickley townships can do so today.
In Hempfield, volunteers will meet at the Fort Allen Volunteer Fire Department at 7 a.m. and will be assigned to work details in the township.
In Sewickley Township, volunteers are asked to meet at the Rillton Fire Department on Mars Hill Road beginning at 8 a.m.
Volunteers will be needed throughout the day. Bring gloves to handle debris. At registration, volunteers will be issued an armband to access General Braddock Road.
Those who wish to help but can't do cleanup work are asked to bring a covered dish with a cooked meal, or donate food to volunteers at the fire department.
