YUMA, Colo. — It's now been more than two months since the Monk family farm in Yuma got hit by an EF-3 tornado with maximum wind speeds of 150 mph.
"I really thought we would have cleaned this place up and that we would have new walls built before winter," said Amanda Monk.
But instead, the property looks just the way it did on Aug. 9, the day after the twister hit their ranch house directly with Amanda's 16-year-old daughter hiding under the basement stairs with her two younger brothers.
The three kids were not harmed, but their custom-built brick house was badly damaged and unlivable. Amanda's husband, Clint, said they can't demolish the home until they reach a settlement with their homeowner's insurance company. He said the insurance company has not been cooperative.
“I want to be careful and tiptoe around that one, but you can use your own judgment and understand that we’re having trouble," he said. "It’s been more than 2 months, and we still haven’t been cleared to demo.”
But there was another building on the farm that was also hit by the tornado. The family did finally start the demolition process on that on Tuesday.
“This was the heartbeat of our property, if that makes sense,” said Amanda.
"In many ways it was more important and more special than our home," Clint added.
It looked kind of like a barn, and it would be fitting on a farm to assume it was, but it was actually an outreach sanctuary that the Monks called the 99.
“We call it the 99 because God will leave the 99 to find the one lost sheep," Clint said. "And our focus has always been about the lost sheep, on the one.”
He said that outreach for those less fortunate has always been the family’s passion. They had intended it to be a place of safe harbor for those who wanted to escape addiction or that might be in abusive relationships. Now misfortune has found the Monks instead.
Clint led his own wrecking crew of family and friends on Tuesday.
“It’s humbling," said Amanda. "To have people come help you when you want to go help people. I don't know where we'd be without the help of this small-town community.”
The Monks plan to rebuild the 99 and while they wait for sluggish insurance issues to get settled, it looks like they will spend the winter in a single-wide trailer. They said it was actually cheaper to buy that than to find a place to rent near Yuma.
“In all honesty, the insurance has been more stressful on us than the tornado itself because it’s just kept us on the ground," Clint said. "We can’t move forward and that’s been really tough.”
On top of that, the family said they lost about 50% of their corn and wheat crops to the tornado and the subsequent hail. They would normally be harvesting their sugar beet crop in early October, but they said that was completely destroyed by flood in a separate storm.
"The weather was just rough on farmers out here this year," Amanda said. "And it started out so promising. It just ended badly."
The family said they had an uplifting experience with their other insurance agents. The crop insurance was settled quickly, and they said State Farm reached a fair settlement for two vehicles. One was destroyed by the tornado, and their other truck was actually stolen from the parking lot of Denver International Airport the weekend before the tornado.
"It's hard to believe what's all happened to us in a short period of time," said Clint. "But we are going to get through this. We have to remember to count our blessings."
Donations
A family member established a GoFundMe site to help the Monk's get back on their feet.
More reporting by Cory Reppenhagen:
SUGGESTED VIDEOS: Colorado Climate