[justjim]

We lived in a neighborhood villa in the village of Caroline when the tornado tore thru Caroline and the Mallory Hill area of The Villages. Just two short blocks from our villa several homes were completely destroyed. It seemed just short of a miracle to me that no fatalities occurred in the damaged homes that I view that morning of February 2, 2007. I actually heard the tornado and got up about 3:15 am to take a look around the inside of our villa. Seeing just wind and rain outside, I went back to bed and awaken later to the sound of low flying helicopter flying just above our roof line. Within minutes I found out by television that a damaging tornado had hit The Villages, Florida.

The Village Developer pulled all of his contractors off building new homes to salvage what homes could be saved by putting tarps on roofs and stabilizing the houses that could later be repaired and moved back into. Neighbors helped neighbors and the whole community pulled together. It was amazing to me that a year later you couldn’t tell (unless you lived here) that The Villages was ever hit by this devastating tornado. Priority was given to rebuild (I heard over 100 homes) that had to be demolished and built back by the Villages Developer and his contractors. Unfortunately, there were fatalities in Lady Lake and other areas of Central Florida but not in The Villages. As I look back, perhaps this is a statement about the quality of our homes and how well they are constructed here in The Villages.