EVANSVILLE — The progress in Evansville is immense. After just seven days, a large part of the damage from last week’s tornadoes are gone.
Downed trees picked up.
Roofs ripped from the tops of homes replaced with tarps.
The remnants of downed barns reduced to foundations.
Cleaned up, but the area will never be the same.
“It’s been kind of disappointing to see everything’s gone,” Matt Artis said. “We got to start over at home.”
Artis Acres, a farm with 33 head of cattle after losing four during the storm, was ravaged by the tornadoes. The Rock County Emergency Management team explained the strongest winds from the storm happened right in Artis’ area.
While power was restored and Artis’ home and yard were mostly cleaned up, a stone foundation from the barn is all that remains among the rubble.
A steadfast reminder that his family is still standing.
“It’s the farmer way,” Artis said. “You just keep moving on each day and don’t really look back. You just move forward.”
Artis was one of dozens inside Evansville High School Thursday night. Officials were providing updates about the storm that devastated their community. Preliminary estimates put damages at $2.4 million.
However, that’s only primary residences; the homes folks in the community live in. It does not include the very expensive damages to barns, out buildings, farm equipment. The lifeblood for families like Matt’s.
“Hundreds of thousands of dollars we’re losing,” Artis said. “We’ll have to just rebuild.”
For a humble farmer like Artis, he’s hoping his insurance will fill the gaps. But it’s likely going to take more. At Thursday’s meeting, there were over a dozen resources there to provide assistance and aid from local, state and federal levels. However, there was one group, established Tuesday, that is a bit more approachable.
“I know Matt personally,” Austin Schmelzer said. “He’s a very humble guy. He’s hardworking and he doesn’t want anything unless he earned it.”
Schmelzer is one of about a dozen residents who created the February Tornado Recovery Task Force. It’s a group of people around Evansville who came together to help their own.
“We don’t have to share the same last name in order to feel like family was affected,” Becca Poock said. “
The group has a GoFundMe created as a credible place for people to donate money to help the recovery efforts.
They’re still identifying ways to release the money, including the creation of bylaws and finding case managers to help identify and meet the needs of families. But they’re well on their way.
“Their community stands behind them and stands with them,” Schmelzer said. “That’s the great thing of the small city. It’s just the bond.”
If interested in donating money to the February Tornado Recovery Task Force, you can visit their GoFundMe page.
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