Memorial Day is completely changed for those of us in Joplin Missouri

[Grasshopper]

As a lot of you have probably seen on TV, our town was hit by an EF-5 tornado one week ago yesterday. It was the deadliest tornado in history and so far has claimed 142 lives with 43 people still missing. The horrible path of destruction wiped out almost one third of our town of 50,000 and left a scar that will take years to recover from. Yesterday, President Obama came to Joplin to see the damage and speak at a memorial service held at our local university. Today is Memorial Day and not only are we remembering our fallen heros, but also the victims of last week's storm.

My home and immediate family are ok and our house is fine as we live about 4 miles from the path. One of my sister's home was in the center of the path and wiped off clean to the floor. She and her husband are fine but lost everything they have including both of their cars. They were fortunate that they went to the crawl space and made it through without a scratch. One of our hospitals took a direct hit and was destroyed making it that much more difficult to treat the nearly 1000 injured. Our other hospital took up a lot of the influx and two other trauma centers were set up at our memorial hall and university.

In my lifetime, I have never seen such destruction, pain and heartache. It is overwhelming at times but you continue to work to help those left with nothing. Another thing I have never witnessed on this scale is the amout of help, kindness and generosity of the community and outside the community. Immediately after the tornado hit, there were literally hundreds of ambulances, fire trucks, search and rescue vehicles and utility companies pouring in to the city. They were coming from everywhere including two or three states away. Keep in mind, that there was still no way to drive down most of the major streets because of debris everywhere. There were thousands of emergency personel showing up to help along with volunteers to help feeding the now nearly 20,000 homeless and getting them basic items needed.

We had almost 30 churches destroyed, yet they set up cooking centers in their parking lots next to the piles of rubble that were once their place of worship. The local high school was destroyed along with several other schools. A number of students lost their lives just 2 hours after they graduated. Even after this, a massive relief station was set up in the high school parking lot to help feed the victims and support workers.

I could go on for a long time with stories of sorrow, stories of local heros, and stories of the overwhelming generosity being poured into our community, but I won't. What I do ask is that you keep our community in your thoughts and prayers as it is going to take a long time to heal and re build. As the President said yesterday, after the news cameras leave and the spotlight shifts, we will still be here. Our community will need help for a long time. Those of you that know me, know that I am not one to preach or ask for things, but if you do feel so inclined to help, there is a web site dedicated to helping Joplin rebuild. It is a certified site with the city of Joplin and various agencies supporting it. www.rebuildjoplin.org

Thanks for listening to my long post and again, please keep our community in your thoughts and prayers.

[firemanbill]

Been praying for you Tom, and will continue to do so for you, your family, and your town.

[pd1]

Devastation of that magnitude is almost inconprehendable.
I've seen the pictures on TV and it's hard to believe anyone lived through that storm.
You and your community will be in my thoughts.

Paul

[Larry3215]

You have our best wishes as well Tom.

[Don Sims]

Tom,
Hate to hear about your sister's home but am thanking the lord that she and her family survived. Glad you made it through fine also!

[gramps2161]

Tom you folks have been in our prayers. Glad you folks are okay and safe, and will continue to send them. Glad there about all the out pouring of help.
The weather channel has a place to donate money food and clothes also to help out.

[Grasshopper]

Thanks guys.

[cpmalish]

tom didn't now you we're that close my prayer's are with you and your family and community

[CHELLIE]

Wow, Glad you and your Family are ok Tom, Our prayers go out to you and your family and town members, Take care, Chellie

[NJSwede]

Tom,

I don't know you, but you, your family and your community are in my prayers.

Also, as today is a national holiday, I can't help but reflecting a bit over how people react in this country. As some of you know (and the rest of you have guessed), I'm a transplanted Swede who moved to the US 10 years ago. When you move to a new country, there are inevitably things you love about your new home and things you find it hard to get used to. But I've noticed that people ALWAYS come together when disaster hits. I lived and worked on Manhattan on 9/11/01, so I've witnessed it first hand. And that is one thing (among many others) I really love about this country!

[jap71173]

My wife's family is there too and they ran into there bathroom for cover when it hit... when it was over, they walked out of the bathroom to find it was literally the only room left of the entire house... everything else was gone. We're just grateful the Lord spared their lives.

I share in prayer for your family... as well as my wifes family.

.............

What bugs me so much is that we can send people to the moon, probes to Mars, split the atom, heck... we can even make electric airplanes fly... But we can't predict or prevent tornados!!! Whats wrong with this picture? Why are our tax dollars not being spent on saving lives? I seen Sci-Fi movies where they were able to disipate large storm cells with a non toxic gas... why is it still science fiction and not something we are actively working on?

Ok, i'm done venting... sorry

[tarheal63]

Tom,
My town was hit by a tornado on Good Friday two years ago, not as devastating as the one that hit Joplin, especially in loss of life, but I too witnessed an incredible miracle, minutes after the tornado hit, there were people from miles around coming in to see if they could help in any way. It is an amazing site to see, I was very fortunate as the tornado literally lifted up around 200 yards from my house, and dropped again around half a mile away. God surely blessed me and my neighbors that day. I have had another 3 pass me by since then, my co-workers tell me I live in the new torado alley. Hope not. Anyway, I am surely praying for all of you folks there and keep the faith my friend, your town will be rebuilt and it will get better, the scars will heal.

Chris

[CHELLIE]

Tom, Get a Storm Shelter, you live in Tornado Alley and there is no escape unless you have a shelter to go to, have your family and friends get one or build one, they will save your life. its cheap insurance for you and your family. I would not live in that part of the country unless i had a storm shelter to go to, I know people dont think it will happen to them, untill its to late.

http://www.usstormshelters.com/jumbo.html

[K CLOSE]

Hoppy,
Stumbled onto your post and it stunned me for a minute. Ive known you for years now here on Wattflyer and it just never occurred to me you lived near there. So thankful to hear that your family is OK, and I gotta second Chellie on the storm shelter. Prayers coming your way, and your sister and brother-in-law were truly blessed to emerge unscathed in such widespread death and destruction.

[Grasshopper]

Thanks to all that have posted and are keeping us in your thoughts and prayers. It is truly appreciated it.

Chellie, we are looking into storm shelters now. There are a number of companies in the area that install them. I imagine it will be a really busy business for the next year or more. You are correct that you always think "It won't happen to us" but this one shook everyone to the core. Virtually everyone in the area has been affected somehow by this.

[earthsciteach]

The footage and news coverage of that tornado is unbelievable. I can't even begin to imagine what it is like in person. My thoughts and prayers are definitely going out to your town. Thank goodness you didn't lose family. It is so sad that there are so many who did.

[krtf4u_corsair]

I can't even begin to imagine how it would feel to have part of my town to be leveled. My prayers are with you and your family and your town. God Bless.

[Grasshopper]

I haven't posted in this thread for a while. Again I would like to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers. Our community is just beginning to heal with a long way to go. Millions of yards of debris are being removed 24/7 but it is a huge task. There are still thousands of volunteers here and the support and help can be emotionally overwhelming at times. In the end, 154 people lost their lives, over 8,000 homes and businesses are gone and the face of our town is changed for ever.

This video gives a small picture of the devastation and is very well done.

U2 - Where the Streets Have No Name - Joplin Tornado Version

[gramps2161]

Tom what a sobering video of the devastation you folks have suffered. You got my eyes watered up with this one.

God Bless you folks with healing, and recovering to what you folks once had.

John

[Grasshopper]

Originally Posted by gramps2161

Tom what a sobering video of the devastation you folks have suffered. You got my eyes watered up with this one.

God Bless you folks with healing, and recovering to what you folks once had.

John

Thanks John.

[Nitro Blast]

I'm glad my typing is better than any words I could speak at the moment.

I just made a $1000 contribution to American Red Cross and another to rebuild joplin. It will set us back, but not any where near what so many others are facing.

I pray for the courage to face something like that.

[Grasshopper]

Originally Posted by Nitro Blast

I'm glad my typing is better than any words I could speak at the moment.

I just made a $1000 contribution to American Red Cross and another to rebuild joplin. It will set us back, but not any where near what so many others are facing.

I pray for the courage to face something like that.

That was a very generous thing to do Nitro. Every donation helps as there are still a lot of people that lost everything and have nowhere to turn. The Red Cross is a wonderful organization that has been a tremendous help here. My wife said to pass along a sincere thank you as she is on the board of the local Red Cross.