Summer 2007

Housebound in a blizzard

Story by D. Nick Potter

Main story: The New Year's Weekend blizzard

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Last winter’s New Year’s weekend blizzard hit Mike and Irene Tefertiller hard on their ranch five miles outside Holly on Colorado’s eastern plains.

“My son and daughter were coming for the holidays and together they brought all five of my grandchildren with it them” Irene said. Eleven people were staying in the three-bedroom, two-bathroom house.

“The first night that my son was in town 12 inches of snow fell to the ground. That night’s snow was beautiful—it was just what we wanted for Christmas”

When the family awoke the next morning an icy rain had begun and by 10:00am the electricity was out.

The family began to prepare for the worst, making a quick trip into town for supplies.

“The pump to our well is electric, so before the storm we filled both our bath tubs for fresh water, saving it for cooking and cleaning” Irene said.

Meanwhile, the icy rain before the storm glazed over the windows to the Tefertiller home, keeping visibility to a minimum.

“When the snow first began, it was very icy, and when it hit our roof, it sounded almost like hail. It iced our windows and doors. We could only open one door because all the others were frozen shut,” Irene said.

By the first night of the storm three of the children in the home came down with a stomach virus. “By the end of this whole ordeal everyone was sick” Mike said.

The children were given buckets throughout the night in case they needed to vomit. During the second night one of the children needed to clean out his bucket and accidentally contaminated the water the family needed to survive.

“We began to melt snow,” Irene said. “It felt like we were constantly boiling water to use for cooking, cleaning, or whatever.”

Unfortunately the melted snow could only go so far and the family was rapidly running out of supplies. “You don’t realize, with that many people in a house how quickly the necessities run out.”

The National Guard had asked the family if they needed help before, but they declined it and said that others in the area are probably more in need than they.

“We told the National to help the people around us, because many of them live by themselves” Irene said.

Soon the whole family became sick.

“We all got the bug, and soon we started to see pink circles under our eyes, I think it was pink eye” Mike said. “And then one of the great grand children began to show signs of a croup cough. We decided to call the National Guard and take them up on their offer.”

On Jan. 1, 2007 the Colorado National Guard picked up the family, only allowing them to bring one small bag.

“We needed to call them because we needed to seek medical help for the pink eye and sickness” Irene said.

National Guardsmen took all 11 people to the Holly fire station. Luckily the family had a place to stay within close proximity to the fire station. A single-cab truck transported the family two by to, from the fire station to their lodging.

“Once we reached the house, we were so excited because we had electricity. We packed some supplies and a sleeping bag, but the thing we were most excited about was the shower,” Irene said.

Cleaning up from the storm was difficult as well.

“It was seven days before I could get back to my cattle” Mike said. “The National Guard dropped feed for them but they only dropped two small bales for 50 head. The two bales of hay would not have fed them for a day.”

Mike was fortunate compared to other ranchers: “I lost 5 cows and 15 calves to the storm. This is the first time I have ever lost cattle due to the weather.

“ I had to use a tractor to get to my cattle. I could not see anything beside me. It was like a tunnel.” Mike said. The storm downed power wires and damaged fencing. Animals were lost under the snow, making it impossible to get an accurate death count until the snow thawed.

The United States Department of Agriculture required the farmers to take pictures to verify the losses of cattle. When the area finally began to thaw in March, organized gruesome piles of dead animals could be seen throughout the area.

“I had to take pictures of the lost cattle. Down the road there is a pile of 70 head and two horses” Mike said.

“When we finally got electricity back to the house, I had a lot of cleaning up to do, because eleven people trapped for five days is not easy on a house. I did 17 loads of laundry when we got back and stocked the house again with food,” Irene added.