Missouri Tornadoes: Is everyone ok?

[Groesbeck Hurricane]

Joplin looks like a war zone!

Is everyone OK out there? I know we have several Pelicans who were in harms way last night/yesterday.

Any word?

[widgeon13]

Good question, I was thinking the same thing. Destruction is incredible. Slow moving and stayed on the ground. Can't imagine going through something like that.

[Poor-sche Lover]

Joplin is about 30 minutes east of me. I have several friends/family that have lost their homes and lives. We're still looking for a few people. It reminds me a lot of the Franklin tornado of 2003 that hit my hometown. Please keep the families in your prayers. It's going to be a long road back.

[pete3799]

Hope everyone is all right.
I dodged one coming through AR. Fri. afternoon.
One of the truck stops in southern VA. was closed due to tornado damage.
Not sure when that one hit.
Didn't hear about Joplin till this morn. when my wife called to see were i was.

[GH85Carrera]

The bad news is that more storms are on the way right now.

[Joeaksa]

My family in Springfield are ok but it was close... hope everyone is ok.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by Poor-sche Lover

Joplin is about 30 minutes east of me. I have several friends/family that have lost their homes and lives. We're still looking for a few people. It reminds me a lot of the Franklin tornado of 2003 that hit my hometown. Please keep the families in your prayers. It's going to be a long road back.

Are you OK? What do people who are 30 mins from such a disaster do? That question was a huge in '73 when so many tornadoes came through this area. A lot of outside "experts" came in and told us not to help, go on about our business, act like nothing had happened and let them handle it. They handled it, and took a lot of the disaster relief money the state and feds gave out with them.

[Poor-sche Lover]

Personally, I'm fine. We just had strong rain and a bit of hail. As far as what we can do, we are not being told explicitly NOT to come and help. They are trying to distract people from coming to "sight-see". There are literally hundreds of emergency vehicles trying to drive through natural gas leaks and downed power lines. They don't need the added traffic. We are encouraged to help, but our efforts are focused on manning the many relief shelters set up on the north or south ends of town.

My best friend is a local sheriff, and he has been working search/rescue for the past 24 hours. He told me that he has slept about 2 hours since Sunday morning. They are trying to keep people out of the worst parts because of the looting issues. Several landmark businesses (Home Depot, Wal-Mart, etc.) have their goods strewn all around town. They are finding x-rays from one of the local hospitals at least 60 miles away.

So far, I have not seen the corruption that you mention. Unfortunately, we in Tornado Alley are kind of used to how these recoveries are supposed to progress. We have experience with this sort of stuff. Time will tell, I suppose.