[KCDXC] You haven't got rid of me YET!!!!

[Chuck Kraly]

hemorrhoid, n.......a royal pain in the butt, that cannot be removed.


Well here is the latest guys.....be patient I just got home and roadrunner
just came back on line.
Been at work since about 5pm last nite.

First of all, thats for all the concern. Carla and I are fine, and no
property damage here. The twister hit just southwest of the Woodlands, and
traveled a northeasterly path. Was about 1/2 mile from here at the closest
point.
Charlie, WD0GQA was even closer. It hit about 200 yds from his house to the
east-southeast. Also all are well and no damage to his property.

Guys, let me say something here. As some of you know, I have spotted storms
since 1979 when I first got my ticket. And have seen some real bizarre ones
in 23 yrs at BPU. NONE of those compare to this. The damage is totally
disturbing. I have taken 125 pix of "Ground Zero", and will be putting them
on a web page soon. Now, understand, majority of these are taken from a
moving vehicle as we went from "mess to mess". After seeing some of these
pix, it would be impossible in my opinion, to NOT have a stillness in your
hearts. Some FAMILIES lost EVERYTHING.... and there is no way to recover it.
The debris path is unlike anything I have seen. Houses (raised-ranch, and 2
story) lifted OFF the foundation, and dropped 4-6 inches from the original
footings. Some houses completely disinigrated. After this, an Ice Storm will
be a walk in the park. The hardest hit area was north east of the Wyandotte
county lake, and due east of the Woodlands. There are whole housing
divisions GONE!!!!

To say that I have been affected by this, is putting it mildly. I saw a
100ft wooden 161kv pole, lifted out of the ground INTACT. We were able to
measure how far the butt was in the ground, the original factory cuts were
still intact. Not like a broken pole. This one looked like it had just come
off the truck, but had some dirt on it. And it had been in place for approx.
3-4 yrs. At our substation at 99 and Parallel, we had the green road signs
from I435 (approx 1/2 mile west) that had blown in and took 4 inch aluminum
buss and sliced it in two. If anyone of you can remember the red sign on K7
highway, that said "Christmas trees here" with arrow, well it is 5 miles
east in our sub. There were 40' STEEL tower structures on the west side of
the sub which supported our 69 KV transmission lines, and had been there
since KCPL owned that sub in the 1970's, and they were lifted and dropped
about 75 yrs to the east in a field. I could go on, but the eyelids are
getting heavy, and we are on 6am to when ever shifts starting in the
morning. As soon as some of the dust clears, I will post all the pix on a
web page, along with an explanation of what it is and approx. where it was
taken.

One final note. We were sent to Pommerroy Drive and Cernech, which is about
2 miles due east of the Woodlands. We were instructed to fix whatever we
could to restore power to the houses in the area. When I arrived in the
area, I looked to the west, and out of a 25-30 house neighbor hood, only 3
houses were KINDA intact. All the other ones were red tagged by the city as
"Unfit". When I called the boss on the radio and asked if he had a
particular place to start, he asked what my opinion was, and I told him we
should get a huge frontend loader and start on the east and push towards the
Lake. There were only 3 services to restore, and one span of 7200 primary
wire. But, the clean up will take weeks. But, thru all this, I got a pic of
a house (or the remnants of one) where there was a for sale by owner-CHEAP
sign in the front yard. Another one had spray painted on what was left of
the front- "WAS 3800 North 80th"

Will keep you guys informed.
Thanks for all the concern
Chuck