Ricker family farm damaged in tornado

Wantage — Douglas Ricker was sitting on the front steps of his farmhouse on Beemer Road just before 3 p.m. July 29 when the wind picked up and some nearby tree limbs suddenly shot straight into the air. “I didn’t hear a roar or anything, just an updraft of wind,” said Ricker, whose family has been operating a dairy farm on the property since 1927. But it turned out to be more than just an updraft of wind. The National Weather Service later confirmed that a powerful EF-2 tornado packing wind speeds approaching 120 mph had torn through Ricker’s farm and a seven-mile swath of Wantage Township. The farm incurred perhaps the worst physical damage in the area, with three barns, a silo and “a two-seater outhouse” incurring extensive damage, said Ricker. Ricker said he was told by an agent of Farm Family Insurance in Albany, N.Y., that the cost to repair or replace the structures isn’t covered under his insurance policy since he’s been informed that the policy covers damages caused by fire but not by wind. Ricker said he is soliciting the help of a group of “professionals” to determine the type of coverage his policy does provide. In the meantime, the Sussex County Board of Agriculture has set up a relief fund for the Rickers to help pay for the repairs needed. The dairy farm has 75 cows, including 30 milking cows, which the Rickers are able to corral into a section of a barn that remains standing. But additional repairs will be necessary to house the cattle for the winter, said Ricker.