Irv Oslin | Columnist
JUNE 14, 2022, 5:30 A.M. — Night clung stubbornly to the splintered tree trunks and tangled limbs. Daylight crept slowly across the fallen wires and rain-drenched debris on the ground as if reluctant to reveal the details of what had happened the night before.
I needed a headlamp to penetrate shadows cast by broken pine boughs so I could find the best places along the trunk — mindful that I had just one chainsaw battery. I had to make each cut count if I was to clear the massive pine off the driveway.
More: After the tornado – blazing a new trail at Malabar Farm State Park
That done, my sense of accomplishment was short-lived. Fallen trees, limbs and wires blocked Bromfield and Hastings East roads for a mile or more. It would be nearly 12 hours before road crews and neighbors cleared enough of a path to reach the main road and civilization. An eerily subdued civilization.
More than a week later, that feeling of numbness remained. The roads were open, power and internet connections restored. Yet stark reminders persisted — tree trunk forests devoid of canopies, gnarled limbs dangling or heaped on the ground, earth scarred by heavy equipment.
When time allowed, I chain sawed my way from mess to mess, surveying the damage, trying to decide what to clear next. And what could wait.
After lines of communications reopened, I was able to compare notes with others, including Larry Smith. He and his wife Elaine own prairies and woodlands in one of the hardest-hit areas — a six-mile corridor between Butler and Perrysville where the worst of the tornadoes ran roughshod across the landscape.
For more than a decade, Larry and Elaine have labored to restore these areas to their natural splendor. They’ve established awe-inspiring showcases…
New Kids On The Block members, from left, Danny Wood, Jordan Knight, Donnie Wahlberg, Joey McIntyre and Jonathan Knight pose with fans at an 80’s style roller rink party to celebrate their new single, at South Amboy Arena Rollermagic, on Thursday, March 3, 2022, in New Jersey. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP) 
