Pest Management Professional, September 2011
COVER STORY weathering the storm Continued from page 23 Russell heard the first severe thunderstorm warning announced around 3 p m Then suddenly around 4 p m or 4 30 p m the skies got extremely dark eerie pitch black dark to the point where I was thinking Wow what the heck Quarter sized hail followed and then quite suddenly out of hail thunder and swirling winds a tornado formed The twister touched down on the Connecticut River just west of Americans office It came from West Springfield crossed the river and the bridge all the while scooping up water and debris Then the twister rolled down Americans street Russell says the wicked storm passed after about just 30 seconds the longest half minute of his life We realized the sky was dark but we were inside so we didnt know just how dark or how bad things had gotten or were about to get he says 2011 Deadliest year for U S tornadoes since 1936 The first signs things were getting serious that this was not a typical summer storm were the sounds The wind noise everything shaking all of these alarms going off and then the windows breaking Russell says Before we were able to take a breath it had come and gone It ripped the roof right off American Pest Solutions shows signs of structural damage after an our building and blew out all of the windows Russell adds Our office staff were all hiding under a desk in my office Storm Survivors The thunderstorms associated with the tornado already had shelved some of the work Americans technicians were performing in the field Fortunately none of them were in the tornados swath of destruction With all of its technicians in the field at the time the tornado passed through Springfield American also was spared the expensive headache of a wiped out truck fleet Only one American employees car suffered minor damage But in the next parking lot over from ours there was a car covered in EF 3 tornado ripped through its neighborhood bricks that had been lifted up by the tornado and smashed into the car Russell points out Russell stayed with his coworkers until the radar loop showed there was no more danger headed their way He headed home that Wednesday evening bound and determined that by noon Thursday his customers would have no idea American experienced a night of peril that had shut down several other Springfield businesses Russell and company were caught off guard and left a bit shaken by the severity of the storm Still American recovered rather nicely from its 60000 in storm damage posting its best June sales ever American already has repaired most of the damage to its office and site Continued on page 28 24 September 2011 Pest Management Professional mypmp net
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