Tornado nearly destroys N.J. dairy farm
The morning after one of the most intense tornadoes recorded in New Jersey history all but demolished the largest dairy farm in the state, owners Marianne and Wally Eachus looked at each other and just cried.
“What are we going to do?” they asked one another.
Just 12 hours earlier, the couple was eating dinner when cellphone weather alerts warned that a tornado was imminent. The clouds were intense and swift, then there was a sound like a freight train, Marianne recalled.
They ran to the basement just in time for the EF3 tornado, one of seven that ripped through parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania last week, to pass over. Barely three minutes went by, and it was gone.
When the owners of Wellacrest Farms in Mullica Hill, New Jersey, came out of their basement along with other family on their homestead, they saw that two of their massive grain silos had toppled over. Some barns were flattened, roofs ripped off others, equipment was demolished, uprooted trees crashed into the old farmhouse.
Hundreds of cows were trapped under collapsed barns. Thirteen have died, a couple dozen more suffered injuries. Up to 100 cows were still missing Monday.
The storm also produced historic rain and massive flooding from the remnants of Hurricane Ida that killed at least 50 people in six Eastern states.
A GoFundMe started by fellow farmer Hillary Stecher reached $60,000 US by Monday. The goal is $1 million. “It takes a village to rebuild an operation such as this that has been almost completely diminished in minutes,” Stecher said.