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Democrat Photo by Fred Stabbert III
DESPITE LOSING 13 trees and two vehicles during a Thanksgiving morning windstorm in Damascus, Pa., the Tom Kaufmann family said they still had a lot to be thankful for. “Nobody got hurt,” Tom said. “We can replace everything we lost.” In fact, the brand new Toyota Corolla CE seen crushed has already been replaced, and the family’s Hickory Lane property has been cleaned up.
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Thanksgiving
Knocked Out by Storm
By Fred Stabbert III
CALLICOON — November 30, 2004 – Thanksgiving turkeys were roasting in ovens and the mashed potatoes were simmering on the stove when a Thanksgiving day windstorm ripped through the Upper Delaware Valley, uprooting trees and causing 1,076 NYSEG customers to lose electric.
The power outage, which started just before 3 p.m. and lasted until several minutes past 7 p.m., was caused by the heavy winds, which knocked downs trees in many locations from Callicoon to Kenoza Lake in the Town of Delaware.
Morning Storm Hits Hard
Across the Delaware River in the township of Damascus, Pa. the Kaufmann family had a little more damage to deal with.
“I was listening to the Plectron when I heard a severe weather warning for our area,” Tom Kaufmann, a long-time Callicoon fireman, said. “They predicted hail, lightning and heavy rain. Ten minutes after the announcement, I looked out the window and noticed whitecaps going upstream.”
That was almost 9 a.m.
Kaufmann said he walked through his dining room to look outside, and trees were already being blown down.
He looked out another window, and trees were laying across three family vehicles. A shed was also missing.
After the stormy weather blew over, Kaufmann surveyed the damage to his Hickory Lane property.
It included:
• Complete destruction of a brand new Toyota Corolla CE, which was bent in half by a falling tree;
• Destruction of a Chevrolet Venture van, which was sideswiped by a falling tree;
• five trees uprooted;
• eight more trees snapped in half;
• shed blown away;
• trellis destroyed;
• above-ground pool slightly damaged; and
• two holes punctured in the roof by flying limbs.
“Somehow, we didn’t lose electric,” Kaufmann said. “But the wire was spinning around like a jumprope.”
Amazingly, dinner guests began arriving at the Kaufmann home just an hour after the storm.
“If they were in our yard, it could have been a lot worse,” Kaufman said.
“We can replace what we lost. We had a wonderful, wonderful Thanksgiving.”
On Friday morning, Kaufmann summoned his best friend, sons and brother-in-law to help him cut up the downed locust trees.
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