Friends help clean up storm damage

When storms hit the area in the overnight hours of Sept. 10, wind damaged two barns at Lowell and Shelley Kuipers’ home.

The Kuipers live two miles south of Tea and experienced wind damage in the storm that hit around midnight. Thankfully they had no damage to their home.

They were awoken by their alarms on their phones. Shelley ran downstairs while Lowell stood on the front porch to watch. His son called and told him the rotation was right over their house and told him to go to the basement, which he did.

“I went to the basement. About 10 minutes later, I came out and there were boards and insulation all over the driveway,” he said. “I knew something got hit. I called the neighbors and they were all fine so I assumed it was one of my buildings.”

The damage occurred on their pole barn where part of the roof came off and flew into another barn. Luckily the next morning they were able to assess the damage and get tin ordered and put on the roof of the pole barn that night.

Many friends, along with their kids, came and helped pick up parts of the buildings that had torn off. Shelley and their daughter spent the day picking up tree branches. Lowell was able to put them in a pile in their pasture that they will burn later.

The Kuipers have been able to get the buildings so they are waterproof and OK for winter.

“I’ve been able to get it structurally put back together. It’s not finished. Neither one is finished, but at least they’re water tight and structurally back together.”