Siren-Hughes

By Julie A. Miller
Catholic Herald

Tornado victims have long road to recovery

SIREN -- A lot of clean up in the area has been completed and many volunteers have gone home. But for the people who lost their homes in the recent tornado, the problems are far from over.

Susan Hughes, the secretary and office manager for the Spooner-Sarona-Shell Lake cluster of parishes, said victims will be in a kind of limbo for the next several months as they sort out insurance claims and try to find housing. Her daughter lived in an apartment building in Siren that was damaged badly enough by the tornado to be condemned.

Patricia Hughes, a member of St. Joseph Parish in Shell Lake, now has no place to live. As her mother pointed out, that is a common plight for those affected by the tornado. She said there was already a housing shortage in the area, especially for low-rent apartments, so finding housing will be difficult.

Susan Hughes knew there was bad weather coming that day. She had seen hail damage in Luck and Frederic earlier in the day. Driving toward Siren, she began hearing reports of a tornado touching down and followed its progress through reports on her car radio as it was happening.

She said, "I just got sicker and sicker as I came closer (to Siren). All my family lives in the area. I knew which of my people were being lambasted."

Hughes said Patricia and her children, Preston, 18 months, Ashley, 5, and Brittany, 7, were home at the time the tornado hit. The police came around and told them to take cover, so they went into the bathtub and covered themselves with a mattress. Miraculously, although the building was severely damaged, they were not injured.

Hughes said the experience was very traumatic for her two granddaughters, but they are enrolled in a summer school program that has proved to be very good for them. They needed to see that their friends were all right and needed a chance to tell other kids their stories of the tornado, Hughes said.

The children are still frightened and need to know they are safe. Hughes said granddaughter Ashley talks about being able to see up into the sky from her mother's bedroom and won't go to sleep until her grandfather assures her there is no storm on the way. Brittany wants to wait up until she is sure everybody is safely home.

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