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Reconstruction destroyed or damaged 95 percent of streets in the storm's path left impassable 3 million cubic yards of residential debris 110 public works departments responding (opening up most of those streets in 36 hours) and 150 volunteer organizations from as far away as Canada "FEMA was very impressed when they arrived that we were already doing some stuff. We didn't wait on them. We had already rolled up our sleeves. They were very impressed with that," Hertzberg recalled. Another number to throw in the mix: 20,000 trees destroyed. "At a glance, it looked like celery sticks where trees were stripped of limbs and leaves. People hoped that they would survive, but that was hope, not science," says Ric Mayer, a Missouri Department of Conservation arborist with an office now in Joplin's Parks and Recreation Department. Mayer came out of retirement to oversee the restoration of Joplin's tree population. Some 11,500 donated trees have been planted, including oaks, pines, poplar, riverbirch and cyprus. Mayer and his crew – using an auger on a city-owned Case skid steer – are currently busy planting several thousand more trees during fall planting season. And another 4,000 right-of-way trees are on schedule to go in the ground between now and the end of 2017. It has been an up-and-down effort. Of 2,000 dogwood trees planted early on, perhaps 90 percent died. Wrong tree, Mayer says; wrong time. On the other hand, only 14 of 600 shade trees planted in parks during the 2012 drought succumbed to the heat. "That's good in any year." Vermeer Equipment Company contributed to the tree-planting effort. The Pella, Iowa, manufacturer of agricultural, utility, pipeline, mining and tree equipment became heavily involved in Joplin's tree repopulation efforts through its Vermeer Charitable Surviving the Tornado: One Man's Harrowing Story "I saw it coming from the west and thought it was a bad storm," recalled Mike Quick, Fabick Cat employee. "I grabbed a pillow and told my wife, Mary Jo, that we needed to get in the bathtub." From that vantage point, Quick and his wife experienced 20 minutes of the Joplin EF5 tornado. It was a harrowing experience. "The house just blew up," Quick said, remembering how he lay in the bathtub, his arms wrapped around his wife. "It just exploded. It was the most violent thing I ever experienced. The ceiling collapsed in on us and the breath was sucked right out of us, literally. It was like the breath was knocked out of you." Then the sky darkened – Quick could see the sky because the roof had blown off – and hail and rain pelted them around pieces of sheetrock that had fallen across the tub. The drenching rainfall in the eye of the storm filled the tub to overflowing. "Then I could hear the back end of the storm coming and I knew we were in trouble. When the back end hit, it started to pick up my wife out of the tub. She was screaming and we were both praying and I was yelling to her, 'I'm not going to let you go!'" And he didn't. When the brunt of the storm had passed, he finally eased up from the tub to look around and was astonished by the devastation. He exclaimed, "The neighborhood is gone!" His wife asked what he meant. "I told her, the neighborhood is gone." Four neighbors living within three doors of the Quick home were killed in those few minutes of terror; nine neighbors were killed within three blocks. Three quarters of the Quick house was demolished. "I still had a little bit of roof on the laundry room." The couple rebuilt their home on the property. Sadly, after surviving the violent storm, Mary Jo Quick suffered a recurrence of cancer and died one year later. Looking back on the loss of his home and subsequent death of his wife, Quick readily expresses gratitude for, among other blessings, his employer. "I can't say enough for the Fabick family. They gave me an opportunity to take care of my wife for the last three months of her life and supported my family any way they could," he said. "It is amazing to be part of a company that values employees like that." Mike Quick, (far right), celebrated Fabick's grand opening this summer with Caterpillar executive Adam Zimmerman (center) and customers Kenny (left) and Michael Singer. Photo courtesy of Construction Equipment Guide. (continued on next page) November 2013 | Construction Equipment Distribution | www.cedmag.com | 35