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‘We are so lucky to be alive’

Story and Photos by Fred Stabbert III
Posted 4/25/23

Callicoon Center – The force of nature is incredible.

And no one knows that any better than Norris and Catherine Chumley of Hahn Rd. in Callicoon Center as they bore witness to a tornado …

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‘We are so lucky to be alive’

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Callicoon Center – The force of nature is incredible.

And no one knows that any better than Norris and Catherine Chumley of Hahn Rd. in Callicoon Center as they bore witness to a tornado that tore down two of their buildings, damaged several others,  felled a 100-foot spruce tree onto their home and ripped the roof off Catherine’s art studio.

Norris said it was about 6:45 Saturday evening when he and wife received a text from a friend in Callicoon who said there were tornado warnings on his cell phone and wanted to know if they were tracking them.

“We didn’t see anything but we decided we should pull our cars into the garage,” Norris said as hail had started to fall. “We were standing in the doorway of our house, my wife and I were going to run my car into the ‘pig barn’ when all of a sudden the wind came up.

“Everything went sideways, if we were three seconds earlier my wife and I would be gone,” Norris says as he surveyed the damage in the early dawn hours of Sunday.

Pieces of buildings, possessions, and tree limbs covered the hillside below the Chumley’s house for nearly 150 yards. The Chumleys’ car never got moved, and instead sat trapped underneath the milk barn, which was toppled off its foundation and lay in pieces across the barnyard.

“We didn’t even hear it, nothing, and it was gone in a couple of minutes.

“But for the grace of God, we are so lucky to be alive,” he said. “We didn’t even have time to be scared. We are so grateful to God to be alive.”

The Chumleys were fortunate to escape the tornado unscathed but the powerful wind caused dozens of trees to fall on their neighbor’s property – Apple Pond Farm – cutting off Hahn Rd. residents from power, and by extension, water.

 As nearly a dozen workmen helped clean up the Chumley’s property, all Norris and Catherine could do was walk around in shock, trying to remember where things were and what their buildings looked like.

The Chumleys had moved into “The Idea Farm” in 1996 and were part-time residents until about three years ago, when they moved up full time. Norris is a professor at NYU and a movie and television executive producer while Catherine is a professor at the School of Visual Arts in New York City and a writer and artist.

One of the buildings on their farm was converted into an art studio and Catherine was anxious to see how it fared the storm.

As she rounded the corner she could see that the windows were blown out. And one step inside the two-story, wood-framed building showed that the wind had swept in, even blowing a 12-foot step ladder off the wall and standing it up in the middle of the room.

Water drenched the floor in the middle of the studio, which indicated a hole in the roof. The roof, which once had solar panels attached, was blown off, leaving just bare plywood in its place.

“We are going to have to tarp the roof,” Catherine told Norris as he walked into the studio to see for himself.

The couple praised their neighbors who responded to their tragedy.

“God bless them,” Norris said. “We have super good neighbors.”

More Info

Norris and Catherine said yesterday that New York State Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther  visited their home yesterday and called Gov. Kathy Hochul  to apprise her of the situation.

The Chumleys said that Callicoon Town Supervisor Tom Bose had contacted U.S. Congressman Marc Molinaro to apprise him of the situation and hopefully secure federal designation as a disaster area.

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