One week later: Maury County's tornado recovery continues

It's hard to believe, but it's been a week since tornadoes tore across Middle Tennessee. It caused significant damage and one Maury County woman lost her life.

For Thomas O'Reilly, a Maury County resident, some of the storm trauma remains fresh. "Everything was shaking, of course, we were all upset," he said.

It was only after they went outside, that his family learned how close of a call it truly was. "The house, just pure luck, the huge tree fell away from the house," O'Reilly said. "As the root ball rolled up, it came within about that close to the house."

Other parts of his farm weren't as lucky. His beloved greenhouse was leveled. More than 50 trees were left broken and twisted across his farm. His barn was nearly destroyed. "It got hit pretty hard. It shifted the frame about two and a half feet," he said.

Still, O'Reilly says he's grateful the damage wasn't so much worse. "It’s not a matter of luck for us on the way it came through here, it’s a miracle," O'Reilly said.

While the clean-up continues, the rebuild may still be months away. Because the O'Reilly family didn't see substantial damage to their home, they're far down the list for the insurance adjuster to come out and give them a quote. Thomas says he completely understands why. "A lot of people got a whole lot more damage than we have. We got extremely lucky," O'Reilly said.

That being said, with 250 homes damaged in Maury County alone, it could be a while. In the meantime, Thomas and his family plan to focus on their cleanup so that weeks from now, they can help their neighbors. "When we get done, if there’s still people who need help, we’ll be going to meet them because we’ve just had a huge amount of help," he said.

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Small gestures can have such a big impact. This story is proof. Sports Anchor Steve Layman shows how Vanderbilt Head Baseball Coach Tim Corbin, and his entire team, provided a much needed distraction for a young man and his family — facing an unthinkable tragedy. Yes, it’s just baseball. But on this day, it was so much more for everyone involved. Kudos to the Commodores!

-Rhori Johnston