Tornado Damage Severe to Greenback Farmers
By John Disque
Robert Anderson, Jr. of Greenback TN. Tornado destroyed his barn. (Image by John Disque)
People see things like this on the news every day, but the devastation doesn't really hit home until you see it with your own eyes. When I arrived in Greenback I was shocked at how incredibly powerful and brutal mother nature can be.
When I spoke to some of the residents affected by the disaster the incredible sadness of the story hit home in ways that I wasn't expecting.
Robert Anderson, Jr has owned a farm off Highway 95 for many years. The farm has been family owned since 1951. Robert's father began the business and left it to his children. Since 1951 it's been a staple of the local community. Unfortunately, the farm was damaged in Wednesday's tornados.
Robert approached me while taking pictures and asked who I was with. When I explained it to him and handed him a business card we became friends and talked while both of us continued to look at the shock of the damage.
Is your insurance taking care of the damage, Robert? "Some of it. When you own a farm you come to expect hard times, but there's no real way to prepare for something like this. It's just going to take a lot of old fashioned elbow grease."
Is there any statement you'd like to make to the public? "I just want to thank the good Lord that no one was seriously injured."
Has the tornado shut your farm down? "No, we're still going. We just have to work longer, harder hours now but we expected that. It shut some people down. The folks down the street have about $100 thousand worth of damage and their house is destroyed."
We spoke of the fear and the lack of control one has when they're faced with issues like this. Sometimes nature does what it wants with you and there's not much you can do but hope and pray for the best. It wasn't hard to conclude that Robert was overall thankful that his own damage wasn't worse than it is. He, his family and his farm have some tough months ahead, but they're going to be okay.
Published March 25, 2011
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