Early morning storm July 12 rips roof structure off rural Dorchester home


Views both facing the home (above) and looking directly at the roof (below) give an idea of the damage done to the Jerry and Machelle Bulman home on Iowa River Drive during an early morning storm Tuesday, July 12 that the Bulmans believe could very well have been a small tornado. The steel roofing and the rafter system of one side of the roof were completely ripped away down to the carsiding that made up the ceiling of the living area within the home. Submitted photos.

Although the National Weather Service hasn't confirmed it, Jerry and Machelle Bulman of rural Dorchester are fairly confident that it was a tornado that woke them in the early morning hours of Tuesday, July 12 and ripped a portion of the roof off their log cabin-style home along Iowa River Drive.

“I've never heard anything like that before," Machelle said of the noise that woke her and her husband around 1:15 that morning. "I told Jerry, 'we've got to get to the basement'. I've never had to do that before, but this was just instinct. We knew we had to get there."

As they made their way toward their basement, the couple heard additional crashing noises within the home, but maintained their course to safety. When it was all over, they discovered that some of their recessed lighting fixtures in the ceiling of their home had been blown out of their ceiling location, just below where the roof had been ripped off, and had crashed to the floor below, leaving a hole in the ceiling where the sky above was visible when the morning sun finally rose.

That hole also served as a primary route for the rain that accompanied the storm to enter the home initially, causing additional interior problems with wet floors and walls that are still in the process of drying out. "Thank goodness we didn't get more rain than we did; it was only about three-tenths of an inch," Machelle said. "And we don't have any carpet, just tile and concrete floors, so that was relatively easy to clean up. The worst part is the drywall we have in the basement, but we're trying all we can to dry that out and see if we can prevent having to replace it."

TORNADO OR STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS?
Allamakee County Emergency Management Coordinator Corey Snitker confirmed with the National Weather Service that no other reports of tornadoes in the area had been received from that late Monday-early Tuesday storm system, and the Service had not returned any further information to him that might indicate that what the Bulmans did experience was, indeed, a tornado. But Machelle maintains that it certainly had to be something more than just straight-line winds.

“We’ve had straight-line winds before, and it never sounded anything like this or did anything like this,” she explained. “And if it was straight-line winds, why is the corn all around our house still standing straight, as if nothing happened? The steel from the roof ended up in one direction and the rafters that were ripped away ended up in another, and the big shed by our house was never touched. It was all just very strange.”

The Bulmans also noted that the patio furniture on the home’s deck was also left in a pattern that might indicate some sort of spiraling or swirling winds. “Our patio chairs had been sitting randomly on the deck, but after the storm every one of them had been blown right around the table, and the large rug that was outside our deck door was kind of wrapped around where the table and chairs were at the point of our deck.”

OUT OF THE BAD, COMES THE GOOD
Equally as awe-inspiring as the storm itself, but in a much more positive way, the Bulmans were very pleased with the assistance they received once daylight arrived after the storm. “We got ahold of Mike Sweeney (of Sweeney Builders), and he had about eight guys from his crew out there early in the morning, and they worked until it was almost dark to get a roof back on our house to keep any more rain out. We at least have a tar-papered roof now, and the steel to finish it off should be here within a couple weeks. Pro-Build kept bringing the guys the supplies they needed, and we had a number of people offer to help in whatever way they could. We are just in awe of how people come together to help out when things like that happen. We can’t thank them enough.”

Machelle also shared that her in-laws, Lori and Randy Hover, who live about a quarter-mile or so down the road also suffered extensive tree damage on their property during the storm, so much so that they could not get out of their driveway initially due to downed trees. “Randy came down to our place that morning, and when he got here he said, ‘I was feeling pretty bad about all the tree damage I had, but now that I’ve been here, I don’t feel quite so bad’,” Machelle relayed with a smile.

Regardless of what caused the damage to the Bulman home, they do know one thing for sure. "Whatever it was, it was scary, and I don't think we ever want to go through something like that again," Machelle shared.