x
Breaking News
More () »

Defiance houses still in need of repairs from December EF-3 tornado

Houses along Red Barn Lane have tarps on the roofs, water damage and boarded windows four months after the storm hit.

DEFIANCE, Mo. — The tornado was here and gone in 10 seconds.

That's all it took for an EF-3 tornado to rip through Nathan Borowiak's neighborhood, while he, his wife and son took shelter in the basement.

"When we came up the steps and looked and there is glass, tree limbs, parts of other people's homes in your home. The amount of water and debris and damage, it was overwhelming. We couldn't believe it," Borowiak said.

Since December, they've had to live in their basement until the rest of their house is fixed.

"I think the insurance is estimating upwards of $250,000. I don't know if we're going to be able to get it done for that," Borowiak said. 

His neighbor, Daniel Ploesser shares the same frustrations with his repairs.

"There's a shortage of labor there's a shortage of construction people that have availability and so just trying to get estimates and get scheduled for repairs has been very difficult," Ploesser said.

Across the street, one house has a tarp on the roof and another family is still displaced.

Since the storm, people from all over the Defiance area came to their neighborhood to help.

"There was so much debris that prevented first responders from being able to get here, so our community, our neighborhood had to do the best they could to help one another until those first responders could get here," Ploesser said.

"The Defiance people who have come out and helped has been tremendous. At one time after the storm we had 50 volunteers on our property alone," Borowiak said.

It's that kind of generosity that keeps Ploesser and Borowiak moving forward.

"It gives us this sense of we all went through this together and we're all going to make it outside on the other side of this storm together," Ploesser said.

"Hopefully we'll be back into our upstairs of our home by Christmas, but currently we're living in the basement," Borowiak said.

That tornado also took the life of an 84-year-old woman who was asleep during the storm.

Two other people were injured in collapsed buildings.

Before You Leave, Check This Out