reply to post by Mercenary2012
That would be my roomate who took the photos...
On a good note the very first name on the missing list has been rmeoved. The 75 year old grandmother was found safe and sound, sitting in a chair in
the front of where her house use to be, petting her cat who also survived.
1 down, 231 more to go.
Death toll increases to 125, with over 900 injured from the storm.
The 1500 people reported missing, as mercenary alrady pointed out, has been widdled down to the 230+. Cell / phone services are still spotty throught
the city, depending on what area you are in.
Power has been restored and crews are still working on affected areas.
Obama will be in town on Sunday and will be on the ground touring damage so plan ahaead about where you need to go etc as security will be tight and
roads will be blocked.
@paxnatus
Thank you for pulling us back down a little bit and putting some things in perspective.
As far as search and rescue goes, its been changed to search and recovery. After the storm hit people responded to their neighbors to help get people
out of their destroyed houses. The reason some of the search and rescue concentrated on businesses is because of the level of damage in those
buildings and the lack of "neighbors" who could dig through rubble. Its daunting enough trying to dig through debris of a house.
Its something else entirely when its a 20k+ square foot store with commmecial grade material used in construction. The higher concentration of people
in those stores was the main factor in concentration at the outset. When bad storms like this come through smaller communities, people will head for
commercial buildings because of construction being newer.
A lot of the destroyed houses in Joplin occured in the older sections of town. Newer construction was destroyed as well, but not nearly to the extent
of the older homes. I was finally able to drive North on Main street from 32nd, and after a few blovks (coming up on the McDonalds and PIzza Hut, ithe
area of town is leveled. Even trying to make homes out is difficult, as they look more like place where debris is being depositied. In some of hese
ares the only thing left to denote it was a neighborhood are the roads and driveways.
There are some more positive signs popping up, and that is the number of businesses that are reopening. There is also construction already underway on
some damaged businesses so they should be back up and operating in the next few weeks.
Cleanup has begun in earnest in several areas, and the city is arranging for major debris removal from these areas as they push forward. The Joplin
school superintendant has already announced summer classes, as well as classes for the 11-12 school year. While they lost 4 major buildings, they are
not letting that deter them, and have announce the classes to give themselves goals to work towards.
The graduating class from Joplin school district opted to donate the money they raised for their graduation party / celebrations to those who need it
in the city who were affected by the tornados.
The permit fisaco has been scrapped, and the city has stepped up patrols through affected areas to deter looting. The morgue issue is also being dealt
with, and families are now able to visually see loved ones instead of jsut being notified now. There were reasons for just notification, but it was
causing a lot of issues with closure, and coupleing that wih the loss of houses, jobs etc it was enough to break the camels back.
@ Mercenary - After going through most of the photos, there are some present he didnt take. He also didnt upload them to flicker (went to Mercy and
his Facebook page), so someone else snagged em and posted em. KY2 news from Springfield managed to evade the security and police officers at the
Hospitl and snuck into the building to take pictures. They got about 20-30 before they got caught and were escorted off property.
Of all the days for KY3 to be bold, happened to be the day KC Metro SRT was augmenting St. Johns Security personnel, so needless to say KY3 got a
stern warning from them as well.
As was pointed out, and argued about in other threads, emergency response is not perfect, and it will never be. Trying to juggle the needs of the
communicty against public safety as well as individual safety is difficult. People forget that the city does not come to a stop, and large portions of
the city were not affected, so 911 calls / calls for service are ever present.
They are doing the best job they can with the resources present.. Please keep this is mind before hitting the post buttion.
Thanks
edit on 26-5-2011 by Xcathdra because: (no reason given)