Here's the Wal Mart across Range Line from my grandma's house on 15th. I believe the low brick building in the middle distance is the movie theater, and the pile of rubble in the foreground is probably Long John Silver's.

Here's a Flickr stream from Joplin. Oh em gee.

Thanks, everyone, for your kind thoughts. I'll keep you updated with what I know.

It amazes me, every time there is a natural disaster, just how must destruction can happen. We are simply powerless when it happens... the best you can hope for is to be in the right place at the right time.

Doppler radar, TV, Sirens, Radio, Internet, Reinforced buildings, Emergency planning, Rescue and recovery services. Without all that I'm sure the death toll would have been much greater. So while we are not perfect, we are also far from helpless.

*waves*

No... Mississippi (MS)

We's all 'bout the floodin', down heah! The tornados were last month.

I'm so glad to hear everyone's accounted for, Commodore!!!

I've been looking at photos and am both amazed and horrified. Glad everyone is OK.

Just talked to cousin Jamie (my age) and she finally knows where her 3 kids are! One was working at a yogurt shop, untouched, while the adjoining Mexican restaurant had a wall blown out and major damage. Jamie and her daughter Maddie have been planning a trip to California, first pre-empted by Tess' (Jamie's younger sister) cancer surgery, now by this. We should give them a proper DL swanking when they finally make it. Maddie's apparently obsessed with Johnny Depp, they were really hoping to make the Pirates premiere. We'll have to get one of those Johnny Depp-alikes to make an appearance. ;)

The destruction in Joplin made Al-Jazeera!

Don't we have a smiley that shows an entire midwest town's heads exploding?

I believe that Al-Jazeera has multiple branches and don't all wish Death to America. Much like Fox.

And now some heads will explode that Al-Jazeera and Fox were used TWICE in the same sentence.