Winds of change

Five months after a tornado ripped through her home in rural Portland, Betsy Minnich now views her property damage with a light heart.

She sees the destruction as an opportunity for change.

“Well, if God wants us to remodel, why would we not do that?” she said.

On June 18, a tornado ripped through northeast Jay County and into Mercer County near Fort Recovery, damaging more than two dozen homes and even more outbuildings in its path. The National Weather Service assessed the storm as an EF2 category tornado with peak wind speeds reaching 130 mph.

No injuries resulted from the tornado. (However, in regard to animals, there was at least one pet death — the Minnichs’ dog, Eli, died a few days later.)

When the tornado hit their home, Matt was at Minnich Poultry, and Betsy and their children were visiting with family just two miles south, barely missing the storm’s destruction.

“It puts life into perspective,” Matt said June 18 while surrounded by debris in his living room, not two hours after the tornado left its mark on his home.

About 100 local residents from Holy Trinity Catholic Church of rural Bryant gathered for Mass on June 21 in what remained of the Minnichs’ former outbuilding. Standing next to piles of shattered glass, planks and other debris, churchgoers prayed for their recovery.

Following the storm, half of Matt and Betsy Minnich’s roof was torn off, their outbuilding was reduced to half its size and two garage walls were missing. Nothing remained of their backyard playground set but the foundation it sat on. (An outdoor spinning clothesline pole and some religious items on the walls remained undisturbed.)

The Minnichs are in the process of finishing up repairs to their home at 5212 N. 450 East. They’ve also started a few renovations to the home they began building about 12 years ago while engaged.

“(When) we started off, we were frugal people … but we decided to change it up a little bit,” Betsy said. “We (now) know what we do and don’t like after living in the house for 10 years.”

The Minnichs put up a new black roof at the beginning of autumn. (Their home previously had shingles, but this time they opted for a standing seam metal roof.) They re-bricked the exterior, adding black accents, and installed new black windows and trim.

“Of course, we took the opportunity to make some minor modifications to what we had,” Matt said.

Betsy wanted to loosely model their new home aesthetic after “historic” older buildings like their church, Holy Trinity.

“It’s hard to accomplish what that beautiful church has in a single-story home,” she noted.

New drywall has been put up around the house, and priming has been completed. Plans are to install new flooring — some carpet and some vinyl — as well as paint the walls. (With four children, Betsy said, they’re looking into “family friendly” flooring.) They’re also adding new cabinetry, woodwork and doors, as well as a new electric fireplace in the living room. Some other odds and ends, like finishings in the bathroom, are in the works as well. Mel Heitkamp Builders of Fort Recovery is handling most of the work.

The walls surrounding their garage have been repaired. All that’s left to replace in that room are the garage doors, which were ordered in August and aren’t expected until at least January.

Nearly half of Matt’s outbuilding was destroyed during the storm. It has since been rebuilt in black and red colors — it was originally two shades of brown. Matt is hoping to finish it off with new garage doors when they arrive.

Since June, a lot of the glass and nails have been removed from the Minnichs’ yard. Still, Matt is planning to re-seed his lawn next fall. It looked OK until about the end of October, he said, when wet conditions and equipment tracks left ruts around the property.

“It has become painfully evident that the lawn is not going to survive the day,” he said.

Matt decided to move ahead with redoing the whole area instead of spot-treating certain areas. He’ll also till up the ground in the process, using some leftover top soil from Minnich Poultry Farms. This should help to remove any leftover debris from the top surface.

As for the destroyed playground set he built for his children, Matt’s unsure of his plans.

“That is actually a point of consternation, I have no clue what to do,” he said. “I need something, because the kids need something to play on.”

Matt noted he may look into purchasable equipment. He’d love to find a retro steel swing set, the kind with an A-frame, that would last for a long time.

Others affected by the storm have also been working on or have completed repairs since the tornado.

Fort Recovery Lumber at 2550 Wabash Road had two buildings damaged. One needed a new roof — it was installed within two weeks of the storm — and the other needed to be torn down and rebuilt. Work on the new building was completed by the end of August.

“We never really had any inventory damage, or any equipment or trucks (damaged),” said owner Brian Bubp. “There were a couple other buildings with some trim blown off, but it was pretty minor.”

Bubp and 13 other employees stood outside June 18 and watched a funnel cloud develop about 7 miles to the northwest. Once it started raining, they took shelter inside the office. It remained untouched.

In June, The Portland Foundation awarded a $25,000 grant to United Way of Jay County to help those impacted by the tornado. Funds were to be used for those who lost personal and household items, or those in need of food, lodging or fuel.

Matt noted his family received financial support from the organization as well contributions from local churches and residents.

“The community definitely financially tried to help out, which is nice,” he said. “That’s why when you have the opportunity, you’ve got to give, because someday you might be the guy that’s receiving. So it’s a good reminder of that.”

Although he appreciated the financial support, he said the value of helping hands was unmatched.

“What meant the most was just people showing up, donating their time,” he said. “People that maybe you don’t even realize know you exist or care, all of a sudden, they’re at your doorstep.”

Betsy noted the situation has allowed them to spend more time with family as well, which she referenced as a blessing.

The Minnichs are hoping to have renovations and repairs finished by spring.

“We’ve made a lot of changes, I mean, to the outside,” Matt said. “It doesn’t look like the same house to me at all.”

Insurance doesn’t cover all of those changes, he noted. It factors in the cost of repairs or replacements for damaged items and structure parts.

The Minnichs decided to move forward with renovations anyhow. Matt noted the building has been cleared out while in the process of repairs, making it a convenient time to act on their wishes.

“I mean, might as well make some lemonade out of the lemons, huh?” he said. “Take the opportunity to change it a little.”