Indianhead neighbors gather for a community barbecue and share stories, help

As day turned to night in Tallahassee’s Indianhead neighborhood, dozens of residents gathered Friday at Optimist Park for an impromptu barbecue to grill food that would otherwise have spoiled in powerless freezers and refrigerators.

Most were relieved because being without electricity or having their entrance blocked by a tree was the worst of their problems. Friday morning storms ripped through downtown Tallahassee, snapping trees and poles like pencils.

Others were not so lucky.

“I have four trees in my house,” said Angel Hirai, who has lived in the neighborhood since 2006. “The back wall is missing and there is water and trees inside. We saw neighbors’ houses damaged (in previous storms), but nothing. like this.”

She said she has already filed a claim with her insurer, state-backed Citizens, and expects the trees to be removed next week, but does not expect to return to her home for another year. In the meantime, she and her family are hoping to find a rental in the neighborhood.

As previously reported, Friday’s storms could be considered the city’s worst tornado outbreak, with wind gusts of up to 100 mph and up to three different tornadoes damaging or destroying homes and businesses. A woman died when a tree fell on her home.

As the storms passed through Indianhead, Hirai said his family sat in an interior hallway “and heard the trees falling on the house. Every time one fell, the whole house shook.”

Longtime Tallahassee resident Penfield Newell, carrying a plate of food, said she lost eight trees on her property during the storms, with two falling on the Indianhead home where she has lived for 11 years.

“Water was coming in,” she said. The good news: Half of her house is still livable. Another tree hit her car.

Indianhead neighbors were helping other neighbors ‘as soon as the thunder stopped’

Marie-Claire Leman, board member of Indianhead Lehigh Neighborhood Associationsaid neighbors were helping neighbors “as soon as the thunder stopped,” checking on elderly people, using chainsaws to cut gaps in fallen trees on the roads.

Friday’s barbecue was born out of the same sense of community, she added: Another board member, Eli Wilkins-Molloy, had the association’s vibraphone-sized charcoal grill that he uses for large events, like the annual Nene Fest (Many street names end in “Nene”, the Muscogee Indian word for “trail”).

“We didn’t think we’d need it after a tornado, but Eli texted me, ‘Should I take the grill out?’ ” she said.

The tornado that likely passed through the area did a neighbor a favor. Daniel Mendez, who recently moved from Denver with his family, said he arranged for a dead tree in his yard to be removed, coincidentally the morning of the storms.

“Now I don’t know where the tree is,” Mendez said, wondering if it was shattered into nothingness. “She disappeared. I’ve been asking neighbors, ‘Have you seen my tree?’ “

Even those who were much worse off were making the best of it. Hirai said he “lives in an amazing community and we have received many offers of shelter and food, so we are very grateful.”

But for now, “we’re homeless, so we might as well make it fun. We’re musicians, so we’re thinking about doing a ‘Tornado Tour,’” she added with a laugh.

News Director Jim Rosica can be reached at jrosica@tallahassee.com. Follow him on X: @JimRosicaFL.

This article originally appeared in the Tallahassee Democrat: Indianhead neighbors share stormy stories of loss and relief at barbecue