Clean up

Almost exactly one month after a tornado did a direct hit on the campus (and yes, even the building) where I work, the specialized clean up crew brought in to get us back on track is leaving campus. A lot of work has been done, but there's still a lot of clean up to do, too.

Now I've had 3 different office locations in this building, and I'm pretty thankful I am in the office that I currently am in; it sustained the least amount of damage of any of the three locations.

This is some of the cleanup that was going on one full week after the tornado hit. This first pic was taken right outside my second office location in this building. Currently, most of the drywall in this area has been removed, along with the carpets and ceilings because of water damage. Estimates at this point are that it will be at least February until these offices can be occupied again. Oh...and much of this office suite is still sporting plywood instead of windows.

 If this is my second office location in this building, are you curious about the first? It overlooked a second floor lobby with one complete wall of windows...which were blown out during the tornado. The employee in my old office was literally against his office door trying to keep it shut when the tornado hit.

 Above is a shot outside my third office location in this building...my current office. Yep, there's no ceiling. Still looks like that today.

 And here we are in my office...how lucky am I? NO damage?!?! Although I think the cleaning crew thought my desk was a result of tornado damage, it wasn't. They cleaned up and dusted everything for me.

 It's still a shock to drive onto campus and see the changes...views we never saw before are now visible as a result of losing more than 800 trees 6" or larger in diameter.

 Research greenhouses were among the hardest areas hit, and assessments and decisions are still being made as to which ones can be repaired and which ones can not.

 Obviously, this greenhouse fared even worse than the previous one. After a month, it still looks pretty much the same as in these photos.

 Here's the hardest hit of the academic buildings on campus. The back half of this building it literally missing.

 Our campus remains closed to the public. The streets to the north of campus still have debris wrapped into tree tops and many homes and buildings are sporting tarps as rooftops.

But let's look at the positive side of things: no one was seriously injured. Not even any of our farm animals. And the opportunity exists for new research, such as reforestation research in our 88-acre arboretum. And our campus has pulled together as one. I have confidence this will only make us stronger in the end, even if it is tough to look at this destruction day after day.