There was a time when Lana Fuchs could look from the windows of her Cambridge Shores cabin and see lush trees with only a slight view of Kentucky Lake.
This all changed when an EF-4 tornado decimated a small lakeside neighborhood in Marshall County on the evening of Dec. 10, 2021. The tornado damaged homes, cabins, boats and docks and knocked down trees. Homes that once had no view of the lake now do because the tornado leveled the majority of the trees in the neighborhood.
Fuchs, a part-owner of a Cambridge Shores cabin with her sister, Lisa, was in her cabin the night of the tornado with one of her adult sons, Michael Fuchs.
“You could tell by the way the meteorologists were talking it was not the normal warning,” Lana said. “The sirens went on and off two or three times. I remember hearing stuff hitting [the house] and the pressure on my ears.”
During the tornado, both Lana and Michael took cover in a closet underneath the stairs that led to the second floor of the cabin.
“I told Michael, ‘You have to get in the closet,’ so we got in the closet,” Lana said. “One of the cats got out and ran upstairs, but by the time Michael got in, it was on us. As much as I love my cats, we couldn’t go get them.”
Both cats survived, one in the closet and one that had escaped from the closet just before the tornado.
Eventually, Lana and Michael decided it was time to come out from the closet they had taken cover in because the tornado had passed through.
“The sirens quit, and you could tell there wasn’t as much going on,” Lana said. “It really didn’t last very long. We came out, and I told [Michael] to go find the cat, and we looked up, and a tree had come through the wall and was laying across the steps.”
With a tree in the house, they knew they would not be able to take shelter there for the night, so they went to her sister’s side of the cabin.
“It was raining, and rain was coming in everywhere, but we just had to leave it like that,” Lana said. “There was nothing we could do.”
Lana’s cabin was not a complete loss but will require multiple repairs.
“We had to get heating and air replaced,” Lana said. “We had to have the roof replaced. All the trees are gone. We’ll have to replace all of those.”
They also lost their boat, both of their docks and a car.
Lana said with all the damages they maxed out their insurance, and she also said it has been difficult to get the repairs they need, though she understands because home repair companies prioritize full-time residents.
Lana, who does not live in Marshall County, said she and her family did not make trips to the lake as much this summer. She said it was difficult seeing the cabin every time they came to Cambridge Shores.
Scott Embry, Lana’s neighbor, saw major damage to his cabin.
“I don’t know exactly what happened to my place,” Embry said. “The front porch had fallen, and then most of the blocks upstairs had blown out, and half of my roof [had blown off].”
Embry’s cabin was not the only damage. His Yamaha personal watercraft was totaled, and he also had damage to his pontoon boat, which has since been repaired. He also lost his dock.
The trees are one of the most noticeable losses. Few remain standing, and it has made a huge difference in the community. Before the tornado, a turn into the community would greet you with trees and homes, after the tornado, there is a perfect view of the lake.
“Being up here this summer working, it was just so hot without the trees,” Embry said. “There’s just no shade.”
The tornado left the bay filled with docks, boats and other debris, which required cleanup crews separate from the ones that had been helping in the community.
“They had a big barge that came in here with a great big John Deere excavator on the front of it, and it would pick stuff up and put it on there,” Embry said. “Then, they would take it somewhere else and chop it up and sell it as scrap.”
Embry said he is undecided on if he wants to rebuild because it is a big investment into a second home, as he claims between a house and a dock would cost around $200,000.
For many in the community, the rebuilding process has commenced, but it will be a long time before it looks anything like it once did in Cambridge Shores.
