Rural Neosho couple awash in paperwork in twister's wake

By Wes Franklin / Daily News Staff Writer
Published: Sunday, March 19, 2006 12:42 AM CST
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Edna and Mike Butler talk with reporters Friday afternoon about storm damage at their rural Neosho home. DAILY NEWS / JOHN FORD

An F-1 tornado, such as that which struck the Neosho area last Sunday evening, can do more damage than one would think - just ask Mike and Edna Butler, who live about four miles southwest of Neosho on 10614 Orchid Dr.

While surviving the tornado itself can be scary - and Edna has her share of stories from the experience (Mike was at work in Joplin when the storm hit) - the aftermath is almost as gut-wrenching, though in a different kind of way.

One week after the event, the Butlers, like many other area citizens, are beginning the rebuilding process, starting with the head-aching insurance game, ongoing since the disaster struck.

Standing in what's left of the Butlers front yard, one can tell by the line of uprooted trees and destroyed outbuildings where the twister plowed through from the southwest, wreaking havoc all around the couple's residence before moving off their property and completely destroying two turkey houses just a couple hundred yards down the road.

Blue tarps cover portions of the Butler's roof where shingles were blown away. Several fully-grown trees, both oak and pine, lie uprooted or broken in half throughout their yard. Barns and sheds are either knocked flat or irreparably damaged. Mike's motor boat was carried several yards from its mooring and crashed a few feet away from Edna's car, burying the propellor in the ground and substantially damaging the hull. The interior frame of the Butlers' RV travel trailer is cracked after being slammed against a utility pole.

Most noticeably, a good-sized oak tree still lies where it fell - torpedoed more like - on top of a vacant house the Butler's used for storing mostly sentimental items, such as their now grown-up kids' childhood toys and other objects from the past.

The scene as a whole looks like exactly what it is - a disaster area.

Working through three separate insurance companies, the Butler's have their hands full. While the company insuring the motor boat has already promised full coverage, Triple AAA for the RV and the car (which suffered some dents) is taking a little longer.

“They told us right from the beginning it would be seven to 10 days before they could get to us,” Edna said.

Meanwhile, the homeowners insurance, under Oklahoma City firm Shield of Shelter, is taking even longer, somewhat to Mike's frustration.

He said he was told someone would be out at the first of next week to take a look at the property damage to the home and outbuildings and let him know what could be done.

“Two week response time, that's not very good,” he said, noting however that he can understand the delay. “It's a slow process. There's so many other claims right now, I realize that. The storm was really wide-spread.”

Edna said except for the boat's insurance provider they had kept policies with their insurance agents for a number of years now - something she almost regrets.

“We had been discussing switching to just one company,” she related. “I was thinking that if we had only just been with a new company (when the tornado hit) we wouldn't have had to pay so many premiums. I don't know if being with just one company would have made a difference or not, though.”

In the meantime, the couple are doing some light clean-up work while waiting on the insurance agents to come through and inspect the damage. Although they've taken pictures of the destruction, Edna said they're not sure if they ought to move anything or not until the agents show up.

“We've never had any doings with the insurance before so we don't know what to touch and what not to touch, so we'll have to wait and see,” she said.

Mike said he's hoping their house - which now needs a new roof - and the damaged outbuildings will be fully covered, though admitting he's not sure what the case will be.

Those structures that were destroyed or damaged, as well as the larger overturned trees, need to be bull-dozed and cut apart, he said. Before that can happen, however, both Mike and Edna expressed concern that the insurance company pay for the construction of a new storage building to house the keepsakes from their two children's youth. Already, the couple are busy moving as much of it as they can to the side of the storage house that isn't caved in by the tree.

Some of the items include bikes, old toys and even a metal E.T. lunch box that belonged to one of the kids, now ages 31 and 26.

“We've got to have some place for it so it isn't destroyed,” Mike said of the relics. “We've kept this stuff for 30 years, we're not going to let it go now. We want to make sure it's somewhere safe and dry and get it covered up. We'll do what we can to save it.”

# posted by Ava @ 5:57 AM