Barn, crops destroyed on Zionsville family’s farm
ZIONSVILLE, Ind. (WISH) – The cleanup process from Monday’s tornadoes might feel like an endless task, but one Boone County family thinks it will literally be picking up debris into October.
The Kaser family owns a farm off Zionsville Road in rural Zionsville.
The tornado destroyed one of their barns, sending sheet metal pieces of wood nearly a mile in several directions.
The family got help from relatives and neighbors to start cleaning things up.
They’ve already loaded up one dumpster and plan to do that again.
As for their crops, they estimate 20 of their 40 acres of corn are either destroyed or covered in debris. Their bean fields took a hit, too. Large pieces of wood were sticking out from their crops like a javelin.
Georgi Kaser said it’ll make harvest season an arduous task because the debris could destroy their combine.
“We’ll just have to be very slow, careful as we harvest the corn field here and then the bean field. Beyond that we’ll go very slow in the combine and are diligent to watch, probably make sure we’re doing it in daylight so that we can see all the debris and not run it through the head because that will destroy the head of the combine,” Kaser said.
The tornado also put a huge dent in one of their grain bins. It looked as though a large boulder landed on it. Kaser explained that the tornado knocked off the bin’s top, and caused high winds to swirl around inside. She said that created a vacuum, causing the bin to cave in.
The National Weather Service said the tornado that hit in Zionsville was one of seven that touched down Monday in Indiana.
Homeowners in Avon, Brownsburg, Clayton, Hamilton County and all the way up to Howard County were in this storm’s path.
But the best news in the aftermath of the storm is that across central Indiana nobody was seriously hurt.
Families like Kaser’s were also thankful that so many people have been ready to lend a helping hand.
“I just feel very grateful,” Kaser said. “We have had so much support from the community. When you live in the country, everyone’s your neighbor. And everybody from miles away has come to offer help.”