'Almost apocalyptic': Residents digging out of Indianhead Acres, Myers Park after storms

Residents of two of Tallahassee’s most heavily forested neighborhoods, Myers Park and Indianhead Acres, found themselves virtually buried in fallen timber Friday as severe storms and reported tornadoes ripped through the area.

Roads through both neighborhood littered with downed trees – many on top of homes – and gnarled power lines, leaving some people stranded. Good Samaritans with chainsaws and tractors cut narrow pathways through some of the streets to help extricate their neighbors.

The storm knocked down big trees and lopped off the tops of others around Kevin Sansom and his fiancé Laura Floyd’s place on West Indianhead Drive, sending a crab apple tree and part of a pine onto their roof. Another big pine fell on their shed, flattening it and their bicycles and gear inside.

Floyd said she watched from the windows as the trees bent wildly and moved in ways she’d never seen before. She could feel the vibrations from the trees as they came down around her.

“It came on so fast, and it ended so fast,” she said. “And it was so dark outside, just super ominous and really creepy. All you could smell was like dirt and pine. It was just absolutely stunningly strange.”

A giant pine in their yard fell but just barely missed their house. Other trees fell all around Floyd’s vintage Volvo but left it largely unscathed. Some water got into the house, but Floyd said the damage wasn’t too bad. The couple spent the afternoon clearing the property as best they could and planned to put a blue tarp over the roof later in the day.

Not far away, on Chuli Nene, Morgan Brackin was awakened by tornado warnings going off on her cellphone. She and her husband, Cameron, and their son Eli, who’s 10 ½, were standing near the living room, heading for a bathroom for shelter, when a big pine in their front yard fell on the middle of the roof.

Several other trees in the backyard took out their above ground pool, a hot tub and part of the house. Morgan Brackin said she was on the phone with her insurance company right after the storm passed. With the massive tree still resting on their roof, the family planned to spend the night with family nearby.

“We’re pretty overwhelmed,” she said. “I keep saying I’m not really sure what all steps to take. It could have been worse. We will just take it day by day and figure it out.”

In Myers Park, countless trees were down throughout both the neighborhood and park. On Myers Park Drive, trees fell on either side of Tom Taylor’s driveway, making it impossible for him to leave by car. Debris covered his driveway, too, but he managed to cut and remove most of it.

“I’m not going any place soon,” he said. “It will probably be days before I can get out of here unless I do it on my bicycle. I have been here 34 years and so a few hurricanes. You lose trees when you get a big wind and this was another example. It’s a cycle of nature.”

Elizabeth Blair, who was house-sitting nearby, said she went to bed Thursday night expecting a little rain or wind from the storm. Instead, she woke up like others to the sound of sirens going off.

“I just tried to hunker down and ride it out,” she said.

A friend stopped by Friday afternoon to take a chainsaw to the trees in the road, hoping to clear a path from her driveway. She and other residents were shocked by the destruction.

“It’s been bad here before because we have all the trees, but I have never seen it as bad as this,” Blair said. “This is almost apocalyptic.”

Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or 850-599-2180.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Tallahassee residents dig out of debris after 'apocalyptic' tornado