Day three of cleanup after a tornado ripped through Oak Grove consisted mostly of putting tarps on homes and insurance adjusters working diligently to get to everyone’s claims.
There is impending snow in the forecast on Saturday, causing concern for some.
“My insurance company said do whatever you can to try and secure the building from further damage with weather, so OK what can we do to tarp or whatever. Well there is no tarping this because there is really nothing to attach the tarp to,” said Mike Bryant, the landlord of property that was destroyed.
A representative with State Farm told 41 Action News they are trying to start with the worst homes and work their way down the line.
They say you should call to let your insurance company know you have damage and they will try to send people out as soon as possible.
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“We are just advising people that we will get out there as soon as we possibly can, working the most damaged homes first and they will be up as soon as we can get to them,” said Public Affairs Specialist for State Farm Kevin Gamble.
“There’s people that are you know a lot worse shape than my house, and I just wanted to know when an adjuster was going to come by our house but I don’t want, I understand what is going on. There’s houses that are worse than mine,” said Oak Grove homeowner Gary Reid.
Gamble said homeowners should try to prevent further damage by putting tarps over holes in roofs and covering broken windows, but only if it is safe to do so.
If possible, save any type of documentation showing an effort to get someone to the home to help.
Gamble said the predicted snowy weather does create some additional risk, adding how it will be handled will be evaluated separately for each claim.
“Any kind of bad weather, hoping it don’t leak anymore through my roof cause we got a tarp, but you never know how well it’s going to hold up that is the main thing,” said Robert Blair of Odessa whose home was damaged by the tornado.
“Well not for me so much cause my house is pretty much a total loss, and I am worried about other people gotta get their stuff out,” said Russell Jenkins of Odessa.
“There’s just so much to do. There’s so much to do here to clean up. There is so much to do as far as paper work and those kind of things, and it’s really difficult to figure out what you really need to do first, but for us the biggest priority is trying to salvage pictures and memories and those kind of things,” said Cheri Paulmeyer of Grain Valley whose home was demolished by the tornado.
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Ali Hoxie can be reached at ali.hoxie@kshb.com
