Dena Duffin, 53, pulls her teenage son close as she looks into the trailer stuffed with tables, tubs of housewares and whatever else they were able to salvage when the tornado ripped their home off its foundation the night of May 28.
“I gave that to my dad,” she says, pointing to a dented copper tub. “And there’s a stepstool and shelf my dad made for us. You can’t replace those kinds of things.”
Clothes, furniture and appliances will be replaced when the Duffins leave this rural corner at Highway 32 and 206th Street just outside of the tiny town of Linwood, Kansas. They’ve already found a house in Lawrence.
The tornado was on the ground for more than 30 minutes and cut a swath of damage a mile wide, according to the National Weather Service. Miraculously, no one died and there were only a handful of minor injuries. The tornado went around the few blocks of homes in downtown Linwood, almost certainly saving lives.
(Read more: Rural Messenger)