Tornados in Joplin, MO

I don't know if anyone watched the news last night, but my hometown of Joplin, MO, was absolutely devastated by a tornado that, according to a news story I read last night, could be classified as an 8-9 on a 10-point scale.

Everyone in my family is safe, but my parents' house is completely destroyed. My mom & my little sister were actually in the house when the tornado hit; they were hiding in a pantry under the stairs.

Please keep those who weren't so blessed in your prayers. Over 100 people are feared dead, and there are hundreds of houses that are just plain gone.

Here's what my parents' house now looks like:

Wow... That is unreal.

I'm so sorry to hear this!

Glad you're ok

Glad to hear your family is safe! That looks like a tremendous amount of destruction again this year. Images and information are still coming out.

That is unbelievable. Best wishes to everyone in Joplin. This has been a wild year for tornados.

I lived in Carthage for about 10 years so I have family and friends in and around the Joplin area. Fortunately they are all safe and all of them escaped major property damage. My mother who is an RN helped triage until about 2am this morning.

Mentally I think I'm having trouble processing the whole thing. Just the utter destruction and death. Places I knew don't exist anymore and listening to the JASCO emergency radio frequency last night they were giving directions and saying, "where (insert landmark here) used to be." It's just staggering and my continued prayers are with everyone touched by this disaster.

Someone has already posted a video from a helicopter flyover of the tornado path.

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