Man Deals With Nature's Wrath Twice In One Year

This is the second ice storm to hit Green Country within the past year. Fortunately, most of the areas affected by January's storm were spared from this month's. But, as The News On 6's Chris Wright reports some people have been in the wrong place at the wrong time during both.

Bill Curtis and his wife lost nearly everything as a result January's storm, and he says the past 10 days have brought back some traumatic memories. The News On 6 first talked to Curtis when he was hospitalized during January's Ice Storm. He was struck by a 25-foot long tree branch that fell near his Delaware County home.

"It felt like someone was taking a cheese grater, and scraping it up and down my back," said Bill Curtis.

Curtis, who now volunteers at a non-profit, was uninsured and couldn't pay his medical bills. He says while he was in the hospital, his pipes froze, looters ransacked his home, and he and his wife were eventually forced to move in with his son in Tulsa. So, the sound of cracking limbs this past week, including a large one right outside of his office, was understandably traumatic for him.

"Sorry, but it's been very hard losing our home and virtually almost everything," said Bill Curtis.

Curtis can certainly empathize with those affected by this month's storm. He says it's difficult to see others endure what he's already had to deal with.

"Seeing other people going through things they're going through, it's very hard," said Bill Curtis.

As for Bill, he's sure things will only get better from here on out. He hopes to own a home again, and eventually pay off his medical bills.

"We just have to keep trying, I've never been one to give up on anything I've ever started in my life, and I don't intend to now," said Bill Curtis.

Bill has been hospitalized 11 times in the past year, all a result of complications from being hit by that limb. His son's home did lose power for several days last week. But, there was no major damage.