Fayette farming community bands together after storm leaves path of destruction

Springfield Township neighbors woke up to the aftermath of a powerful overnight storm. It snapped and tossed countless trees, shutting down traffic along Mill Run Road. It’s just a path of destruction from one property to the next in Fayette County.

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Doug Show is a third-generation farmer. The storm left his cattle farm with major damage,

“We lost everything: machine shed equipment, hay storage barns. I mean, it just picked big roofs off and threw them,” said Show.

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Show was touched by neighbors and family members who came to help clean up and herd cattle.

On his property, farm equipment was covered by a roof, 130 feet long and 70 feet wide. The storm was so strong that it picked it up and tossed it across the field.

The winds also tore and destroyed the roof of a barn.

While his property took a beating, Show was worried about his neighbors.

“The trailer next door that a family was in...thank God they’re OK. It rolled them over,” said Show.

Glen Shearer lives down the road. He lost several fruit trees and strong winds blew open the door to his storage structure.

“It sounded like a freight train,” he said.

“I came down to the bathroom, and the first thing I had seen was that tree, no limbs on it. I knew something, I knew there was trouble,” said Shearer.

The financial loss to Show’s farm is huge.

“I probably lost about a million dollars in farm equipment.. that doesn’t even count the buildings,” said Show.

He knows bouncing back will be tough, but Show still finds the bright side.

“Everything can be fixed, I guess, so far. Everybody is ok that I talked to in town,” said Show.

With so many toppled trees and downed power lines, residents are expecting clean up and recovery to go on for a few days.

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