It’s been an interesting week and a half for Lake Panorama Association General Manager John Rutledge and the rest of the Lake Panorama community.

After all, it’s not everyday that a couple of tornadoes touch down on top of your homes to create significant property damage and headache.

“You get into a lake (area) and you always think of flooding, and that’s something you can sort of see coming and prepare for, but tornadoes and flooding, whatever it is… I think the response is you put a good team of people together and you deal with what comes your way.  I’m very proud of my group of folks out here–they worked very hard for us (last week) and did a great job.”

Rutledge says he’s also very thankful for the countless hours of volunteer time that was given last week to help the LPA clean up some of the significant damage.

That clean-up isn’t done yet though, and as the recovery efforts continue this week, Rutledge says measures are being taken so that the lake is as clean and as safe as possible for Memorial Day, which is essentially the “grand opening” weekend of sorts at Lake Panorama.

“We’ll be out this week with the utility barge picking that (debris) up.  We’re asking homeowners to just give us a call if they have some items identified and give us a 9-1-1 address.  We’ll coming looking for things but if you know of something, it always helps us to have a work order.”

Since the LPA is in what Rutledge terms “unchartered territory” as a result of the damage caused by the two Mother’s Day tornadoes, he asks residents to use extra caution when boating this coming weekend and throughout the summer.

If any residents have questions about the condition of lake or if you need to put in a work order for utilization of the utility barge, call the LPA Office at 641-755-2301.