Picking up the pieces: Saline farmers left with big mess after Tuesday tornado

RALEIGH - When a tornado struck the Mark and Jena Oglesby farm Tuesday evening, it was the third tornado to affect the family in recent years.

The tornado, classed as an EF-2 by the National Weather Service, did a lot of damage in north Saline County, but no one was injured. For the Oglesbys, however, this is getting to be old hat.

When the 2012 "Leap Day" tornado struck Harrisburg, a close family member's home was damaged. The family turned out to clean up debris and damage. A few years prior, Mark's brother Steve Oglesby had his own farm damaged by a tornado.

"This isn't the first time, or the second time we've had to deal with something like this," Jena Oglesby said Wednesday, taking a break from picking up smaller pieces of a grain bin that lay mangled nearby in a field. She was joined on her Raleigh farm by her father, Jerry Irwin, who was filling a small trailer with debris before hauling it out with a four-wheeler. In the heavy rain, the ATV got bogged down as it clawed its way up the slight incline of the field to the graveled area near wind-damaged farm buildings.

Jena said simply walking around the rain-soaked field to recover metal was a challenge.

"The mud keeps trying to pull my boots off," she said.

No one was home when the tornado struck, Jena said. The house, about 100 yards from the center of the farming operation, was untouched by the storm, save maybe a few limbs down around the yard.

A few years prior, Mark's brother Steve Oglesby had his own farm damaged by a tornado.

"We had the same kind of deal a few years ago," said Steve, who was helping clear debris off his brother's farm. "It was a mess."

In that storm, winds pulled the middle of three grain bins from its concrete pad and flung it toward Steve's house. Luckily, it stopped short. And, just like in the Harrisburg tornado and Tuesday's tornado at Mark and Jena's farm, the family and friends worked together to clean the mess.

On Wednesday, Steve Oglesby was standing in the bucket of a John Deere tractor raised to reach storm-damaged tree limbs. After several limbs were cut, the tractor would haul them to a different spot and pile the limbs together before the process was repeated.

Mark, meanwhile, was surveying the damage with an insurance adjuster. After the adjuster left, it was back to the task at hand.

Picking up the pieces.