These photographs are in color but they were taken with a Polaroid camera in 1970, that makes them more than 45 years old. The first three photos are of businesses in Portland, Texas, the fourth is of our backyard. You will notice that there are fence posts in that fourth photo but no fence. The roof laying on the ground is that of our neighbors. The part of our roof that was missing... who knows whose yard it lay in. Celia was a hurricane with winds of up to 200 mph.
She blew through with tornadoes wrapped within her. Her destruction was horrific and frightening. After all was said and done the damage in 1970 was $309 million worth. Our home suffered severe water damage, the water even came in through all the light and electrical fixtures. The sliding glass door was bowed so far in that we just knew it was going to shatter, though it never did. A log came in through the living room window and one came through the dining room as well. A board or something
exploded the garage door, went through the cars' front and back windshields then through the back garage door. When the board went through the back door it took with it most of the family's childhood pictures and all of our 8mm movies. All those memories lost, it was very sad. During the storm the house was constantly pelted with debris. We were not even sure we would live through it. It was an experience I hope to NEVER repeat in this life time.
There was no electricity or water in our part of Texas for over a week. My family had a freezer
full of meat and a travel trailer with a propane tank. Thankfully, although the trailer was destroyed the tank of propane was not nor was the stove within. My parents decided to cook all the meat in our freezer and share with everyone in the neighborhood. The meat was going to be wasted otherwise. We kind of had a party, celebrating that we had all made it though alive.
Helicopters dropped carbonated water donated to us from the coca cola plant in Texas. We had no drinking water so this was a life giving service. We were unable to get out of our city, all the roads were blocked with debris, it was over a week before we were able to leave. Thankfully we had food we could eat, mostly crackers, chips and peanut butter, but it didn't matter we were grateful to be alive.
We had been shocked at the severity of the storm as we waited out the first half. When the eye of the storm came my father ran outside and used wood from the pieces of houses that was in our yard to board up our windows and the sliding glass door. We had originally taped the windows which normally would have been sufficient but not with this storm. When my father lifted a sheet of wood over the sliding glass door in the back of the house he did not see the long nail sticking out and as he lifted it the nail kind of scooped under his knee cap and nearly took it off. Blood was everywhere but he would not slow down in his process of making us safe. Later when my father finally came back in the house my mother did her best to doctor his wound. It was bad but he was determined to do everything he needed to keep us safe. Because we could not get out of our little city my father never did have stitches or a doctors care but my mother took care of it and it healed, ugly, but it healed. He bore the scar the rest of his life. I have actually been in many hurricanes and even tornadoes but this was the worst experience I have ever had. I can still feel the walls of our house trembling under the strength of her winds.
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