Delaware County Campground Reeling From Third Round Of Severe Weather

Dan Bewley, News On 6

FIDLERS BEND, Delaware County -- Storm damage seems to be spread from one side of the state to the other.

Cruce Lansford has been coming to his Fidlers Bend cabin for more than 50 years. But his once serene home now sits in the middle of a disaster.

"Most of the cabins down here are gone, there are just very few that are going to be left," Lansford said.

It started with a record flood on Easter weekend. Then came Sunday night's tornado. It ripped a path through here that snapped trees, folded canoes, and left vehicles under piles of debris.

But the bad news didn't stop there. Wednesday, another flood hit the area.

"I've never found any place in the world that I like better than right here," Lansford said. "But I'm beginning to wonder, I'm beginning to think maybe that I ought to move up a little bit higher or do something but that wouldn't have helped with the tornadoes."

The damage is hard to take in. About the only thing that wasn't destroyed was an urn that holds the ashes of one of the campground's founders. It's still sitting like nothing ever happened.

Electricity is not expected to be restored to the campground for at least another six to eight weeks and the owner expects it to take several years before life eventually gets back to normal.

Work is already underway. Homeowners say they'll do everything they can to clean up their cozy campground.

"One tree limb at a time, one bucket of mud at a time and however long it takes is however long it takes. Steve Randall, a homeowner, said.

Until then, Lansford says he might just think of it as a trip back in time.

"Probably go back like I was when I was a kid, you know we didn't have no electric then, days of covered wagons and Model T Ford's," he said.