MALDEN TORNADO, A YEAR LATER: 'It could have been much worse'

MALDEN — The evening of Feb. 24, 2018, Robert Ross was in downtown Malden with the door to his business open, just a few blocks from where a tornado blew through the south side of town.

“I didn’t hear anything and I didn’t know anything was going on,” he said.

The EF2 tornado damaged over 100 homes and knocked power out in the town for a brief time.

“The electric went off and I tried calling mom to see if she had electric,” Robert said.

His mother, Erma Ross, 81, was at her home on East Cypress Street, where unbeknownst to Robert, a tornado had hit.

“When I finally got a hold of her she said, ‘I’ve been hit’ and asked her who hit her,” he said.

Work continues on a home in the 100 block of E. Ollie Street after a tornado hit the south side of Malden on Feb. 24, 2018. DAR/Denise Kinder

When Erma informed her son she was hit by a tornado, he thought “maybe not” because it was calm just a few blocks away in downtown Malden.

Robert and his wife, Dee, made their way to Erma’s house but the main road leading in was blocked.

Robert said he went the back way to her street and couldn’t tell anything had happened until he turned onto East Cypress Street.

“There was a tree on the road and debris was everywhere,” he said.

After seeing neighbors walking around outside with flashlights, Robert knew it was fairly safe and made his way into his mother’s home.

“I went in and she was sitting with a flashlight and she said, ‘I don’t know what went on,’” he said. “She heard a bunch of noises she said she never heard before and didn’t know what to do, so she got under the table.”

Initially, Robert could tell the kitchen and one bedroom were leaking from roof damage. A section of roof in the kitchen was missing exposing appliances sitting undisturbed in the home.

When he walked out the back door, he realized more than half of the roof was gone as well.

“It’s a scary thing,” he said. “It could have been much worse.”

In addition to the roof being torn away, Erma’s carport awning was also gone, the edge of the roof on the front of the house was lifted away causing the column to rest crooked and her white fence in the front yard was a tangled mess.

The next morning, Robert arrived to his mother’s house after receiving a police escort to the effected area.

“We just started cleaning up,” he said. “It had to be done and it gets boring real quick just standing around. We put stuff in burn piles, moved items off the back porch and neighbors helped us put a tarp down on the roof.”

The group was told they could not stay after dark if they did not live in the area. With Robert needing to make a quick trip to town for supplies before calling it a day, a police officer waited for him to return to escort him back to his mother’s house.

“Each street had a patrol car at it to keep people out,” he said. “I think the police did an admirable job keeping order and looting down. It was a little hassle having them escort each time, but I understood.”

Erma was one of the more fortunate residents of the effected area and had insurance on her home.

“It was just a hassle getting everything straightened back out because everyone was in the same boat and wanting their work done right then,” he said.

After employing a local contractor, Robert began the interior work on his mother’s home and recently finished replacing sheetrock and redoing the bedroom.

“I’m still working because I only get to work about an hour or two a day maybe twice a week,” he said.

The power of the storm had to be respected after Robert found a camper that was located at the side of the house in the front yard after being thrown into the side bedroom. A five-ton air conditioner unit was almost moved to the front yard from the back as well.

“It was overwhelming when first seeing it,” he said “You just don’t think it would happen.”

After helping his mother through the rebuilding process of a natural disaster, Robert said the only bit of advice he could offer to others is to just have patience.

“It just takes time and time is what everybody has,” he said.

Patience again is required, he said, while working with insurance or relying on the Red Cross or other government assistance.

“You may have lost a lot,” he said, “but you still have your life and that’s the biggest thing.”