Farm in Valley View destroyed by tornado, community helping clean up

Lisa and Todd Smith live and work off their property, Smith Farms, at 690 County Road 241 in southeast Valley View.

“I’ve owned this property since 2006,” Todd said.

Nearly 20 years of hard work on their land were tossed in the air and gone in less than 20 minutes after an EF-2 tornado destroyed anything in its path.

“I really can’t stop and think about it too much ‘cause I gotta keep going,” Todd said. “So, I think a little bit of shock is still there.”

Todd, Lisa, and their dog Bailey hid in their bathroom Saturday night.

“Our ears started to pop (from) the pressure,” Lisa said. “The water in the sink and toilet was gurgling. That’s when we knew we were getting hit. The whole house was shaking. We could hear that the whole roof had gone.”

Lisa said it was the hardest she had ever prayed.

“My repeated words were, ‘Jesus please save us,’ over and over and over. ‘Jesus please save us,’” Lisa said.

Their lives were spared; however, they mourn the loss of their dog Reggie, Todd’s horse Colonel, and multiple livestock.

“The hardest part for me is the farm and my animals,” Lisa said. “The animals are everything to me. that’s the hardest part, just knowing where we go from here.”

Faithful clients and friends have helped clear out the piles of debris and some personal belongings that survived the tornado.

"We have a fantastic community around us," Lisa said. "They've busted their butts to help us clean up, and it's hot out there, too. They've been bringing food, water, and I had one customer show up with clothes."

While Monday’s high temperatures did not slow down the work of volunteers, the chance for storms made them uneasy.

“We might not be able to stick around because there's still so much loose tin. If the winds pick up, it might not be safe,” Lisa said.

The Smiths said their biggest needs are feed for their livestock and storage space for their large machinery.

"Right now, we probably have a couple of days (of feed) to keep it going. We grow and harvest our own grains and hay to feed the animals. That's all gone. We can't just plant anymore and it be there in the next few days. It is a whole year’s process," Lisa said. "We're going to need a whole year’s supply to keep our animals going. If we don't have that, we'll probably have to find somewhere else for them to go."

As for the future of Smith’s Farms, the couple said it is too soon to know.

“I mean, we're going to have to completely rebuild everything from the ground up,” Lisa said. “I know that we've been much more fortunate than others,” Lisa said. “Some others are less fortunate, and our prayers are with them.”

While feed for livestock is the family’s main need, a friend of the Smith’s helped launch a GoFundMe.

"I just want to thank the community. They've been so great," Lisa said. "We're just overwhelmed, in every sense of the word."