Wells residents still shaken as aftershocks continue

Team coveragePeople in Wells, Nevada, are still on edge as earthquake aftershocks continue to shake the small town. One had a 4.5 magnitude, and U.S. seismic maps show dozens more.

Most of the major roads are open, and almost everyone has water service again. The question of just how much federal aid the town will receive, though, is still up in the air. Even so, people are working to clean up as best they can.

While the town literally continues to shake, there are many signs that it is coming back to life. Many businesses are back open. As for schools, all age groups may be back in school as early as Wednesday. People are beginning their own clean up efforts too.

Wells, Nev., is just beginning to return to normal. The power is back on, residents no longer have to boil water and freeway exits have re-opened. The big focus now is assessing all the structural damage.

There are multiple FEMA teams in the town doing quick assessments of the damage to not only downtown buildings, but homes. According the Red Cross there are 40 to 50 homes that have damage. If there's enough damage, Wells could qualify for federal aid.

Tom Eatchel, with the American Red Cross, said, "Our plan today is to just do an overview, get a big picture of what's going on out there so we can start tapping into the federal pipeline for federal assistance."

Fifth Street, which is just a couple blocks from downtown, took a hit. Renie Lynge lost her chimney in the earthquake. Today relatives were cleaning up and throwing bricks off the roof.

Inside her home, her private floral shop had some damage. "It will be better when the aftershocks are done," Lynge said.

A lot of people are talking about those aftershocks. There were about half a dozen tremors here throughout the night.

"It was heart-stopping. I've never experienced anything like that," resident Sarah Wintle said.

Resident Jody Wintle said, "Every time I went back to sleep, it would shake and I was just like, ‘Oh no!'"

"I think until these tremors go away, there's a real sense of uncertainty. Are we really moving on? Is this over? Can we rebuild?," resident Steve Miner said.

Several residents were left without a place to stay. The Salvation Army and the American Red Cross are on hand to help. About eight people stayed at a Red Cross shelter overnight.

At the shelter, volunteers unloaded cots, sheets, pillows and blankets that were donated, some by the Salt Lake area Red Cross, some by community members. Food was not a problem at the shelter. They were prepared to help about 35 people if necessary.

One resident, Bill Sweet, said a building inspector made his family leave their home because it's just not safe. "They're afraid that if the chimney comes the rest of the way down, it'll come through the roof and through the ceiling and into the home, and there could be danger for the inhabitants--us. I'm not real happy about it, but at least we have a place to go, and the people here are super people. They're very caring and giving. It's OK. We'll be all right," he said.

Another resident, June O'Neal, lived in the El Rancho Hotel, which sustained a lot of damage. She said, "I realized after I stepped out in the hallway I wasn't decent. I needed to get some clothes on. So I went back in as he took the kids down. So we just left with what we had on. We're grateful to be here and sleep under a warm roof."

O'Neal said her family had a hard time getting out of the building because of all the debris that had fallen.

Wells resident Sharon Cole said her home is a mess. "My bedroom's still trashed, my bathroom's all trashed. I just can't go in there. Everything's broken," she said.

Her friend Karen Franco doesn't know how extensive the damage to her home is, but she knows it's bad. "I can't even imagine it's still on the foundation, the way it was shaking," Franco said.

Lone Wolf Gunsmithing and Guns is taped off, and Owner Kenneth Grandjean doesn't know when he'll be able to reopen. "I'm just hanging out to see what's going to happen. I don't know where I go from here," he said.

Some people still haven't seen how much damage has been done to their belongings. The apartment Michael McNamee and Heather Speers were going to move into is in a sectioned off part of Wells. They haven't even seen if their items are broken or not. McNamee said, "We have no idea. I mean, hopefully everything's all right because most of it is in boxes."

McNamee says he moved all of his things into a new apartment on Lake Avenue, but decided to wait to move themselves in. Now, they're locked out. "We're staying at a friend's house about half a mile from here, and we moved our stuff in earlier this week and we were getting ready to unpack it."

As we saw yesterday, businesses were also hit hard. Stuart's, the only grocery store in town, was especially hard hit. Surveillance video from inside the store shows the merchandise falling off shelves, creating a huge mess.

Today that mess is being cleaned up and shelves are being restocked. It's definitely a good sign that the community is starting to return back to normal.

Lisa Woosley, employee and daughter-in-law of the store's owner, says she thinks Stuart's can play an important roll in town. "I guess you would just hope that, usually we have coffee club group in the morning and they come back, and people can just sit and relax and maybe start their day a little better than yesterday," she said.

Water is still out in this area. Stuart's, a motel next door and a Tesoro gas station across the street have to bring in water from the outside.

The grocery store is safe, but they still have a lot it fix. The dropped ceiling will most likely have to be replaced. An inspector is coming today to check on it.

Woosley says it's going to be a long time before the store is spotless. "We've never had this happen before. It took us about a week to organize the store when we first opened this new store in '93, so it will probably take a little longer because you have to take everything off the shelf, clean it and put everything back," she said.

The quake is also affecting students in Wells. Building inspectors condemned the junior and senior high school yesterday. From the outside it's obvious the windows were shattered by the initial quake. Officials say the infrastructure of the building is too unstable to allow students inside.

Meanwhile, Wells Elementary School cannot hold classes because that facility is being used as the main shelter in town.

Antoinette Cabanaugh, superintendent of the Elko School District, said, "There has been a lot of upheaval in people's families, and we want to make sure the families are OK. When kids are traumatized they're not going to learn anything in a school setting. It's important they feel OK, like they're going to be safe. We'll work things out in the next week or so to make sure they're accommodated."

The district is considering holding double sessions of class next week in the empty classrooms of the elementary school, or transporting students to the Elko area for classes.

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