Tornado Rips Through Joplin, MO

[cardsfan2222]

Re: Tornado Rips Through Joplin, MO

I went down today to volunteer with the cleanup, and the devastation is just unbelievable. When we reached the area hit, all we could see for miles was utter devastation. Brick houses were completely destroyed, mattresses were still in trees, hundreds of cars were flipped and crushed. The Home Depot and Academy Sports were both flattened, and they are large buildings. Restaurants were destroyed and unrecognizable. The high school was decimated, and if this had happened during school hours hundreds would have died there. It's amazing that the death toll isn't higher considering the number of buildings that were completely destroyed.

We talked to a couple of people who survived, and they were looking for items from the second floor of their house. We didn't even realize there was a second story, because it was scattered down the block. It was heartbreaking to see how many lives were destroyed by this storm.

There were a couple of cool things in the mist of destruction. American flags were hanging on nearly every tree or pole that was still standing. Some were draped on houses that were barely left standing. The other cool thing was at the high school. The only letters left on the sign were the O and P in Joplin. Someone had used duct tape to add and H and E to spell out hope. That is really all they have left at this point. It will take years for Joplin to return to its previous self.

[Ty]

Re: Tornado Rips Through Joplin, MO

I lived most of my childhood there and now live just across the border in Kansas, and what I've seen over there is unreal. A lot of the streets are unrecognizable. I've never seen anything like it. The landmarks I knew are gone. You get lost very easily, and it definitely looks like a whole other place. Neighborhoods are gone, trees demolished and uprooted. My dad is a mailman in Joplin and he is very sad to see all of the destruction because he knew most of these people delivering them their mail on a daily basis. Looking at the damage, it's amazing how some of these people survived in their homes. It's very eery to see the town that I love, decimated. I'm also impressed at how people are very upbeat and hopeful at how they will rebuild. It is a strong community. It is great that this area is getting national attention, but it's for a very bad reason. But the town will rebuild and hopefully be better than ever! God Bless Joplin!!