[onewhippedpuppy]

Trust me, I know. The same system that hit Greensburg also hit the small town of Claflin, where my in-laws live. We sat at home, watching the tornados move from town to town on the live weather feed, almost appearing to turn so as to hit each small town on the way, my wife getting more and more scared. They reported damage to Claflin on TV and we were not able to reach her family. When we finally did, they reported damage to their home and family business. We were there by 5 am.

I spent the next two days with very little sleep, helping clean up. With the help of two cranes, one bulldozer and two excavators, we removed a huge steel grain silo from the roof of her father's lumberyard and the adjacent grocery store, then patched the roof holes and fixed the windows. I helped my father in law service the constant stream of customers into his lumberyard, buying plywood and lumber to patch up their homes. We pulled carpet out of a neighbor's flooding basement as the adjacent stream left it's banks. Then we spent the next night in the basement, when the tornados came again.

Hard times, but inspiring ones. People working together, helping each other. Around here at least, the worst times bring out the best in people.