Rick Hightower
WISHTV.com
18. Nowember 2005What a difference a couple of days have made following a devastating twister in Daviess County. Clean-up in Cannelburg is moving at a rapid rate.
Much of the destruction left by the 200-mph winds in Tuesday's twister has already been cleared from the Cannelburg countryside.
Volunteers are donating time and heavy equipment to load up the debris and haul it to large piles where it's being burned on the spot. "We're a close knit community and we help every chance we get," said Derrick Clarke, volunteer dump truck driver.
The aggressive approach to the cleanup is due in part to the self-reliant culture here. This is Amish country.
Ben Knepp is a member of the 2,000-strong Amish community in Daviess County. Knepp builds buggies for a living. He says a buggy worth about $5,000 blew away in the storm and he has no idea where it is.
Knepp's 100-year-old home was built by his ancestors in such a way it withstood the wild winds of the F-3 twister. But he says there's too much total damage to fix it.
As for his buggy business, demolition and reconstruction are going on simultaneously. "I'm making a buggy shop down there. I've already marked it off and I'm building a barn right now but I’m going to have a buggy shop down here and keep going," he said.
With no television or radio to warn him the storm was coming, Knepp feels fortunate to have survived it. "It didn't bother me at all. I just think God was here and he protected us. We just go on," he said.
