St. John’s hospital was hit hard and it will not be rebuilt in the current location. Having the two main hospitals within a half- mile of each other has been deemed not a good idea. If the tor- nado had turned right it would have also hit Freeman hospital.
any damage. After some fussing, I got their whole-house generator go- ing and returned home. Our own gen- erator was purring smoothly and we had power. We were eventually able to reach friends in town who had no power or water so they and others came and stayed with us that night. We used our home as a base for some police friends and others, and fed them, offering any help we could. The next day I went into town to help. The generator was a godsend and
kept things running at our house for four days, as people used our show- ers, we fed them and they basically had a “safe” place to come. I was also glad we had used 6x6 studs on a newly built carport and didn’t have lots of stuff lying around our property, like many in the country do. It kept dam- age from blowing debris to virtually
zero, and all our over-built structures survived unscathed.
First Sight I loaded my truck with chainsaws,
pry bars, extra gloves, fuel cans, a gen- erator and other tools, then stopped by a food store and loaded up with water, bulk hotdogs and buns, paper towels, hand wipes and picked up about a doz- en small first aid kits to pass out. In town, I was struck by the total
devastation. Buildings on the edge of the damage zone lost roofs, cars were tossed around and trees knocked down and had the sort of damage you think of when you see pictures on the news about tornadoes. But anything in its path was utterly and completely de- stroyed. Not broken, or bent, or twist- ed, but shattered, shredded, torn and rendered into tens of thousands of piec-
es. It truly looked like the pictures of the atomic bombing in Hiroshima and Nagasaki — nothing was left standing. As I drove trying to get to friend’s and
houses check on businesses,
I kept getting lost since all the landmarks were gone and no street signs remained standing. Telephone poles were snapped like matchsticks, street
lights simply gone, buildings
leveled and stunned people walking and digging out. I saw people and rescue teams
helping each other, neighbors helping neighbors. They were still finding sur- vivors, and emergency crews had not finished the first search yet. There was “X” marks painted on cars and build- ing showing they had been searched. They searched four times, each time digging deeper. Outside, police de- partments, medical and fire agencies
The National Guard lent a stabilizing presence in the af- termath, often performing traffic control and guard duty.
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