Was it a tornado?

• Storm damage

Echo Press photo by Lynn Mounsdon A bad storm – either a tornado or straight-line winds – ripped several sheds, a grain bin and a barn to pieces at the Bosek farm near County Road 8.
• Debris

Echo Press photos by Lynn Mounsdon Debris was scattered throughout the Jim and Julie Bosek farm near Garfield Thursday. Some of it ended up getting tangled in the trees.

Talk about it

People can call last Thursday’s storm whatever they like, but the Bosek family from Garfield tends to believe it was, in fact, a tornado.

Julie Bosek was home during the storm, along with her son, 7-year-old Anakin, her daughter, 18-year-old Crystal and Crystal’s boyfriend, Josh Guetter.

The Boseks live along County Road 8 NW near Garfield.

Julie’s husband, Jim, along with another son, 16-year-old Ryan, weren’t home when the storm moved through. But after a few frantic phone calls from Julie, the two arrived home just in time to see the devastation left behind.

Julie recalled Thursday’s event during a phone interview Monday evening.

She was outside working with the chickens, while Crystal and Josh were tending to the cows. Anakin was inside the house.

Josh was the first to notice the menacing clouds looming overhead. He yelled to Julie that they should probably get inside.

However, Julie just wanted five more minutes so she could finish her chores. But Josh told her, “They [the clouds] are really circling.”

Josh also told her that a deputy drove by but she just figured he was going to a nearby campsite to warn the visitors of the possible storm.

She kept telling the kids that she just wanted to finish what she was doing and that it was only going to take five minutes.

But after looking at the sky, Julie realized she didn’t have five minutes.

“I saw this white wall coming right at us,” she said. “All of a sudden we just started running toward the house. We were running with all our might but it seemed like we weren’t going anywhere.”

Julie described it as if the family were running in slow motion, like they were in a dream or a movie.

When they finally got inside the house, she had trouble shutting the door and Josh had to help her.

“We watched the windows going in and out, like a heartbeat,” she remembered. She said she thought that they would just sit there for a few minutes and the storm would pass over.

But then as they all looked up, they saw something they shouldn’t have – the barn was coming right for the house.

She yelled, “Run!” and all four of them made a mad dash for the laundry room.

That’s when she tried calling her husband and son. She made contact with Ryan first and told him the farm was hit by a tornado. He said he could see the storm from where he was at, which was a nearby neighbor’s, and that it definitely looked like a tornado.

After the storm made its way through the area, the family came out from where they were hiding and assessed the damage.

A 40x60-foot shed was lost, along with a barn, a grain bin, two other sheds, a rabbit hutch and more.

The house was also damaged, said Julie. Trees were lost, along with Anakin’s pirate ship that the family had just built.

“There was a pine tree that didn’t have one branch left on it,” she recalled. “It was completely gone.”

As for the animals on the farm, a couple received minor injuries, including a horse – a pony, actually – that prior to the storm was in a fenced-in area. However, after the storm, the horse was no longer penned up even though the fence was still standing in its original spot.

“We don’t know what happened,” said a puzzled Julie. “It’s almost like the storm just picked him up and out of his pen and set him on the outside of it. We’re just not sure how he got out. We know there’s no way he could have jumped.”

Despite how he got out, the horse is now penned up again and healing from his minor injuries.

Now in the process of cleaning up after the storm, Julie said it was overwhelming to see all the neighbors come out and help the family in their efforts.

Over the weekend, many members of the Chippewans 4-H Club came out and helped as well. The Bosek family appreciates all the support and help they have received.

Although she called Thursday night her worst nightmare, Julie feels fortunate that no one was seriously injured and that all the animals are OK.

Tags: local news, julie bosek, douglas county, news, garfield, bosek, storm, tornado, weather