Article published May 9, 2008
Program helps Hosmer farm recover from tornado

2008-05-09 It's been almost two years since Damian and Martha Kappenman's farmstead near Hosmer was leveled by a tornado in August 2006.

Several families in the area were affected by the storm, but by the time the twister reached the Kappenman farm, it had grown to a quarter-mile wide, Damian said.

"It didn't leave anything untouched," he said.

Corrals and fences were on the ground. Their son's mobile home and 25 farm buildings, including six steel grain bins, were destroyed. The farmhouse, their home of 28 years, was still standing, but "twisted up" and the roof was gone, Damian said. Even shelter belts were leveled.

The loss of their home was even more painful for Damian, who had grown up in the house as his father farmed the land before him.

"That was the home place," he said.

The following planting season, the Kappenmans rented out their land.

"We didn't know if we were going to continue farming or what," Damian said.

The Kappenmans were still pondering that question this year, when their daughter, Melissa Goebel, heard about Farm Rescue. The family applied for aid and, on Wednesday, Farm Rescue volunteers finished planting 200 acres of wheat and 520 acres of soybeans on the Kappenman farm.

The tornado is something the Kappenmans can never forget, Damian said.

Hearing that the weather was getting bad, Damian called his son, Dominic, and nephew, Cody, in from the fields, where they were planting corn. Less than 10 minutes later, the tornado was upon them.

"We couldn't see a funnel cloud, but it was like a black wall coming from the northwest," Damian said. "When furniture started flying off the deck, I said it's time to go to the basement. Then the windows blew and the door of the house came flying down the steps after us."

The whole house was shaking, Damian said. Their ears were plugged from the pressure and dirt was flying in, so thick they could hardly breathe.

"As we headed down the steps, the windows and doors were screaming, as if someone were standing by your ear with a high-pitched scream. It's something you'll never forget," he said.

When the Kappenmans emerged, they were amazed by the extent of the damage.

A propane tank on the north side of their house had been picked up by the wind and deposited on the south side.

"I think that's what tore the roof off," Damian said.

A lot of their farm machinery was destroyed.

"They weren't tipped over, but the tops were blown off, the windows blown out and the paint was like someone took a sandblaster and peeled it off down to the metal," Damian said.

The Kappenmans also lost about 40 head of cattle.

Remarkably, two pet lizards and the family dog survived. A glass door on their house also emerged unscathed.

"Damian always swore the grandchildren would break it as they flung it open," Martha said with a smile. "So that's a little irony."

The Kappenmans are taking little steps toward recovery, "but they're getting bigger," Martha said.

"We still have grandchildren trying to heal from this whole deal. You had to be there to believe something could be that ugly, but we were very lucky no one died," she said. "You realize what's important in life."

The old saying is there's no place like home, Martha said, but life must go on. Last year, the Kappenmans bought a farmhouse 20 miles north of their land and, in August, moved it to their farmstead.

"It takes some getting used to - even after we got it there and moved in, it didn't feel like home," Damian said. "But we're getting used to it, and it feels more like home every day."

Reprinted with permission of Aberdeen News Company, May 9, 2008