Photos taken the night of the tornado in Joplin.
I went out to take photos and see if I could help anyone. I had no idea the damage was so severe. We pulled two survivors from a cell phone store at 20th & Rangeline Road. We then worked our way down Rangeline Road through a strip mall with JoAnn fabrics, CiCi's Pizza, Radio Shack, and a few other stores. We searched through them looking for survivors; fortunately they were all empty. I then walked through the businesses over to Home Depot where they set up their initial triage to help injured people. I headed east up 20th street to the top of a hill, where the Pepsi distribution factory was in ruins. From the top of the hill I could see all the way across Joplin to the west. There was a trail of black smoke drifting to the sky in the distance, a wide swatch of dead trees with broken limbs, and St. John's hospital sitting on the horizon. From there I made my way to the Plaza apartments behind Wal-Mart where I helped a man get his laptop, guitar, and other belongings from his 3rd story apartment building. His roof and walls were gone. He stated he and his wife were in the apartment when the tornado hit. She was in the bathtub, and he was on top of her. He stood up, and said the roof came off as he did and he was thrown into the closet by the tub. They lied there until the storm passed, and was collecting a few things from his open air 3rd floor apartment when I helped him. I then spoke with three college age students that were waiting for their parents to come pick them up from the apartment complex. Their parents knew where they were, but were having trouble getting to them. While speaking with them, a high school girl and her mother approached looking for a high school boy that was at a graduation party at the apartments. I then went over to the rear of Wal-Mart where they had a backhoe excavating the back break room. I spoke with a store associate, a young teen, who had been in the break room when the tornado hit. He said he had been trapped, and waited 20 minutes while people helped dig him out. They had already removed three bodies from the store, and knew there was at least one more person in the store, and suspected perhaps 4 more. The Joplin Fire Department was stationed behind the store and sent in their search and rescue men from the rear, while the Webb City Fire Department entered the front of the store. About 15 minutes later they asked for volunteers to help. I went to drop off my equipment in the car and grab a few tools, and when I returned all civilians had been moved from the building. They had civilians move some concrete to check under an office, and then had them get back out of the store. They had a track-hoe and a back-hoe working in tandem to clear debris, and later a bobcat moving debris as well. An officer was stationed at the front of the store to keep people out, and another where the pharmacy used to be to protect the drugs from theft. I met an officer from the Carl Junction police department that said his mother had either taken cover in the Wal-Mart store, or in the apartments behind Wal-Mart because she lived in a nearby trailer. He had not had contact with his mother, so left to see if he could find her. I spoke with a high school classmate who's boyfriend had found and helped remove the first two bodes from Wal-Mart. She had entered the building early to remove duct tape, rope, and medical supplies. After a while of standing around waiting to help but realizing they had an excess of firefighters standing around, a group of men and women loaded up some shopping carts with water, fruit, flashlights and sleeping bags and joined a search and rescue dog to search through some duplexes and apartments behind Wal-Mart. I paired up with a man from Chanute, KS that had brought extra diabetic medicine that he had since his son is a diabetic, and a volunteer from Monett that came to assist as well. We searched through the homes, while all their smoke alarms rang from each unit, and spray painted cars' license plates and buildings that had been checked for survivors. Once we reached the third floor of an apartment building and noticed someone had used an axe on the door's hinges, we realized we were retracing a fire department's steps, and we went back over to Wal-Mart. The heavy equipment had stopped working, and they sent in a crew of 5 firefighters to start to remove debris by hand. It was after 2 am at this point, and I made my way back to my vehicle. I encountered rescue workers from the Joplin police department, Joplin fire department, Webb City police, Carterville police, Carl Junction police, Coffeyville fire, Oklahoma tribal police, Fayetteville rescue, Springdale rescue, Kansas City rescue, and many others.
Dogs, Post-Rapture
The poor doggies never had a chance.
I'm with Kirstie!
She is the underdog, but in my opinion, she has overcome a lot to make into the finals. Figuratively, she may have taken a few falls, but she always gets back up. She does not let what people say stop her! She is the Bristol Palin of this season...not politically, but definately in the sense that she does not let anything stop her! Go Kirstie!
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