Roof blown off house of disabled war widow
CLEARFIELD TWP — Mary Arnold woke up at daybreak Friday and got herself into the chair in her bedroom to look out the window at yet another wintry scene.
“If I had looked to my left, I would have seen my roof laying there,” she said.
Arnold, whose mobile home sits on Snyder Lane across from a windswept farm, eventually went back to bed and woke up later to Herman Volunteer Fire Department firefighters and neighbors banging on her door to report her roof had blown off in the gusty winds Thursday night.
“I heard a weird noise at about 3 a.m.,” Arnold said late Friday morning. “I knew it was the roof, but I didn't know it did what it did.”
About three quarters of the black roof lay in a crumpled heap beside her car, which firefighters told her was not struck in the freak accident.
Pink insulation on top of the home flopped about in the high winds.
Arnold, who uses a wheelchair, was shocked when she saw her roof lying on the driveway.
“I didn't know what to think,” she said. “I was like 'Oh my God, why?'”
When she went to bed Thursday night, she didn't really think about the tempest outside.
“We've had worse wind storms, where my trailer would move,” Arnold said. “But it didn't do that (Thursday) night.”
After talking with Red Cross officials, who gave her a loaded debit card for immediate needs, Arnold called the Housing Authority of Butler County, the Area Agency on Aging and the Veterans Affairs to see if they have any programs that could help her replace her roof.
“My husband died of Agent Orange, so I'm basically a war widow,” she said.
Arnold does not have insurance on her home.
“There's going to be insurance on my house from now on, as heavy as I can make it,” she said.
Her neighbor, Debbie Ries, received a text Friday morning from another neighbor that Arnold's roof had blown off overnight.
Ries immediately went to Arnold's house and saw East Butler EMS paramedics. Ries began banging on the door to wake up Arnold.
“She finally came out in her wheelchair,” Ries said. “She just woke up. She didn't know.”
Ries said her employer, P & W Construction of Prospect, will donate one day's labor to replace the roof if the materials can be gathered somehow.
“She's disabled,” Ries said. “You just can't walk away from something like that.”
P & W Construction estimated Friday that Arnold's roof needs about $7,500 in repairs, according to Haley Merchant, senior manager of programs at the Center for Community Resources.
She said the Butler County Emergency Relief Initiative will donate some funds toward the repairs, but that amount was still being determined Friday afternoon, Merchant said.
The initiative, known as BERI, helps people in crisis from natural disasters or utility emergencies, she said.
BERI, in collaboration with the local agencies that support it, metes out about $100,000 each year. BERI started when Hurricane Katrina caused damage in the county in 2005.
Arnold said her home is covered by the sub-roofing, which is keeping most of the heat in but will not keep precipitation out.
“I'd like to save it if I can,” she said.
Merchant said those who would like to help Arnold can make a donation to the county United Way and specify it is for the Arnold roofing project.
Donations can be made at www.butlerunitedway.org.
