Joplin tornado

[Gn2Dlnd]

Grandma lives in Joplin. It looks like her neighborhood, 15th and Range Line, is all but destroyed. My cousin Tess, who is going through cancer treatment lives in Joplin. My aunt Lyla, cousin Jamie, aunt Susie, and all their families, live in or near Joplin.

The Weather Channel is reporting many fatalities. St, John's hospital, where my grandfather died, sustained massive damage. The Walmart across the street from my grandmother's house was destroyed. Long John Silver's and all those little drive-thru restaurants you see next to the road were apparently reduced to their foundations.

On Twitter, I did a search for Joplin, and within the first few posts I found footage someone shot, holed up inside a convenience store with about a dozen other people when all hell breaks loose. Absolutely terrifying to watch.

My mom has only received a text from my Aunt Lyla (grandma's younger sister, my mom's age) that grandma (and her dog) are "with people," and that her house was damaged. Jeebus criminey. No word about any of my other relatives.

Phone lines are down, the local news websites aren't streaming live, but the taped aftermath footage is horrific.

This thread on Fark says that while the major cable news networks were showing their Sunday afternoon crap, the Weather Channel had a reporter there, who happened to be doing a piece on storm chasers, and lost it, on air, when witnessing multiple fatalities.

The tornado is being classified as an F5, reported as being a mile wide, and dropped medical records from St. John's over 75 miles away.

Although none of my relatives were followers of Harold Camping and his ilk, the coincidence of yesterday's jolly worldwide Rapture party, combined with the reality of what happened today to so many folks who live smack-dab in the buckle of the Bible belt, is more than a little disconcerting.

I'm horrified for my family and their neighbors, and I can't think of a single thing to do.