Joplin clean up day 2 by a cards fan
Posted by Dave on 05/29/2011
Yesterday was day two of my trip. Last night I was way to tired to type out what we saw. Although the day was cut short because of more bad weather. We saw a few things that I wanted to pass along to others. As well as some conversations from today. We went to Branson today with my mom to spend the day.
To start off with today we ran into a friend of mine that is a DJ on a local radio station and we were talking about Joplin. Some people were in shock that after 5 day’s it’s still looks as bad as it did hours after the tornado hit. That just proves if your close enough please get involved and go help so your able to see but also able to help and hear the stories. This has far more damage than what your used to seeing from a tornado far more!
Yesterday we found an 85 year old guy that had to use a walker and a cane to get around. Yet he hid in his closet and watched as his house his only house was blown away. What got him into the story was that people had talked volunteers into helping them only to get to their house to find they shouldn’t be the first on the help list he was their neighbor and in far more need of help. There was little we could do for him. We got his car out of what used to be a garage looks like a slab that could have a carport now. The garage has little proof of ever being there except for the header and the garage door. We were thrilled to help him!
A couple about a 1/2 mile away we found the husband was hurt and the wife was there trying to finish up as some other’s had helped get out what wasn’t ruined the day before. She was wanting Christmas ornaments her kids had made for her as they were growing up. The tub was supposed to be in the attic. That is a loose term though when you no longer have a roof. We got up there slowly to make sure it was safe. One of the guys found the tub it was supposed to be “air” tight. The strength of this storm was shown though. The tub was filled almost to the top with water.
After we got it down we asked for her survival story. Her husband was at the the Walgreens around the corner and was trying to get home before the tornado hit. As he was driving home he saw it coming in the rear view mirror they had planned as soon as he got to the driveway they would run to the closet in the living room. He did make it home they ran in got in the closet and the tornado reached their house within a few moments. As they were in the closet the small cracks in the door insulation was being sucked into the closet even them trying to stuff the cracks with coats couldn’t keep the insulation out.
They came out of their house a few moments after it left to looking out at a pretty well flat neighborhood. They were scared beyond words because none of their friends/neighbors were coming out. They went back into their house to see what all of their’s was damaged. Over the next 25 to 45 minutes their neighbors who most of had been buried by debris finally started to appear. They were happy to report to us that no one on their block had died because of the twister.
Part of our group came across a newer car that on the outside had very little damage, and seeing a lot of the vehicles there that is AMAZING. They came up on the car thinking someone had to be working in this house since there was no damage to the car. They got to the car to find the tornado had sucked insulation into the car leaving it worthless. The windows were not cracked, broken or open. The strength of this twister is jaw dropping.
I know that I will be going back to help more just not sure when. I hope for those that can’t come and help to see what damage has been done this give’s you an insight into the pure/raw damage of this.
