Two years after a tornado, Forada finds a new sense of community
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A wind chime outside Steve Archbold’s home swayed gently as a breeze played a delicate melody. But two years ago, the wind blew a very different tune.
“I was standing right by the window here, 30 seconds before the tornado hit. And the lake was calmer than it is now. It was glass,” Archbold recalled.
“As I was watching, you couldn’t see the direction where the tornado came from. It was all embedded and low, and yellow and green, and one of those just ugly days.”
The tornado arrived in a cacophony. Winds blasted through the area at an estimated 120 mph.
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“I put my ear out the door, heard the train, the sound of the tornado,” Archbold said. “By the time we got from that door to the basement, the tornado hit.”
It uprooted trees, damaged buildings and snapped utility poles. Miraculously, no-one was hurt.
In the aftermath Archbold said many homeowners found themselves at odds with insurance companies. One neighbor’s adjustors determined their damages maxed out the coverage. They wrote the neighbor a check and walked away.
“You’ve got an individual now that has lost their residence, they have to use a good share of the insurance, just to clean up the mess,” Archbold said. “So, it leaves them less for rebuilding. Many people found out that they did not have sufficient funds to rebuild.”
He says homeowners with mortgages discovered the insurance money went to the bank, leaving them little money for anything else. That forced many to refinance. Luckily for Archbold all the damage to his home was covered as well as one dock. However, an outlying garage, a boat lift and two other docks were not.
“That logic defies me,” he said. “They’re all located within 150 feet of each other, all destroyed at the same time. All pretty much similar in construction. So, we had to fight that battle.”
Eventually he hired an outside adjuster who disputed the initial estimate. As a two-year deadline to bring litigation loomed, last week Archbold finally reached an agreement with his insurance company.
“I’m satisfied with the resolution. I’m not satisfied with how long it took. I thought that was just unnecessary. You think the insurance is going to show up and help and, in some cases, that’s just not the case,” Archbold said.
He added, he learned some lessons.
“Know your insurance agent. Choose your company very carefully. We had a major national company. I would not do that again. If I could I’d probably try to get somebody more located in Minnesota.”
Archbold said despite all the negatives the storm had a positive effect on the town of almost 170.
“When you’re brought together by a bad experience, you’ll really find out that people shine in that,” he said. “And that’s a wonderful thing, to know that your neighbors are good people. And that’s been bonding.”
Homeowner Mike Grove agreed.
“Neighbors that I didn’t know before, we’ve gotten to get really close with,” he said.
Grove was in his basement when the tornado toppled a giant cottonwood tree onto his home. It pierced all the way through the structure stopping just feet from where he sheltered.
To this day he can’t sleep if he knows a storm is coming. He admitted it’s probably because of “a little PTSD that goes on.”
“I typically try to nap before the storm and then I stay up until it’s past. I don’t like going to bed not knowing,” Grove said, then joked. “One relief is that there aren’t any trees tall enough around anymore for me to worry about a tree coming through my house.”
With their home destroyed, Grove and his family spent the next 60 days in an area hotel. Then for about a year insurance paid for a rental home. On July 1, of last year they moved into their rebuilt house even though contractors were still working.
“The process is long. It’s not an easy thing. And if I ever had the opportunity to build a new home again, I don’t think I’d do it,” Grove reflected. “If this happens again, we’re going to just light a match and walk away.”
Up the road from Grove, former Forada mayor, Dave Reller, now holds the dual role of clerk-treasurer for the city. He said since the storm there are no longer any strangers in the neighborhood.
“I think we feel more like a community. Rather than just residential and vacation homes,” he said. “We’re a community now. There’s always good that comes out of bad. Right? I think a lot of good has happened since that tornado.”
Elected as a write-in for a position he never sought, Reller is trying to help Forada secure federal funding. He said the city is currently engaged in its final appeal to FEMA to pay for roads damaged by heavy machinery during cleanup. Reller said the agency wants more proof, including photographs to substantiate the request.
“We met the deadline date, but it’s still being formalized through the local office in the Twin Cities,” Reller said. “And they’re still asking me for pictures and I’m just having a hard time coming up with them.”
As mayor, one of the first things Reller did after the storm was set up a tornado fund through a local bank. It raised approximately $35,000 in donations. Then to replace all the trees the storm destroyed the city teamed with a local nursery that began securing young trees.
In August last year the effort resulted in a tree distribution around Forada.
“Thank God the city was able to do something like that. It’s going to help,” Reller said. “I’m sure my grandchildren are going to really appreciate it. As well as everybody else’s grandchildren. At the end of the day, we’re going to have more green back.”