Tornado strikes my hometown

Oh, dream echo...I'm so sorry for the losses in your town. That kind of destruction is devastating, and we never truly know what to do in the middle of it.

Make sure your neighbors are okay, and make sure you have access to clean drinking water (usually water is the first thing that becomes suspect). I'm so sorry for this tragedy you're going through, though. If you need anything, let us know.
 
thank you, [MENTION=442]arbygil[/MENTION]

The support of all of you here means a lot to me.

Law enforcement is spray painting the exterior of homes, or what's left of them,
to indicate that the area has been checked. So far, there have been no fatalities.
Hope this remains the case. *crosses fingers*
 
Glad you are alright! I've been through a couple of nearby ones myself so I know how it can shake a person up.
 
[MENTION=3589]donkeybals[/MENTION]

See...no, as I live in the exact center of town.
Hear...yes. Even above the sirens (one of which is directly across the street at the P.D.)
It seemed like the sound filled the world.
 
Hey Dream Echo.
I'm sorry you had to go through an extremely frightening situation such as a tornado. I'm also sorry for you and your community. You are astute in projecting ahead some possible paths the business in your town may take. But please note the word "possible".

Our area down here in TX has gone through 2 devastating hurricanes in the last 5 years. It seemed we were just getting our head above water after the first one when another came roaring through. Even though I have never personally lived during war - the destruction caused by the hurricanes resembled pictures I've seen in my life. It was overwhelming for me to see and I thought we'd never recover.

I am happy to say that the community has come back - even though the US was/is going through a recession. I'll admit some businesses left and never came back - but others did and new ones came in. My family has finally recovered and we are still here. (even though I question the sanity of us living along the gulf coast.:lol: I mean you KNOW a hurricane is likely to come again - right?)

Up until several months ago, I worked for a disaster recovery program funded by FEMA for about 2 years to help the remaining victims from Ike who had not recovered yet.

Your government will most likely step in to provide free or low interest loans to help aid the recovery. In some cases there may be grants - not only for business but perhaps individuals as well. It depends upon the severity of damage and to which areas - Institutional vs Residential. Institutional will be your city, church, business, school, etc. structures. Residential is obvious. It will take them some time to determine the extent of damage, and then obtain the necessary classification before it's known what aid from who will come to you guys. But I feel confident aid will come. There are programs being developed by FEMA all over the country to be a framework for methods and procedures to help with disasters and the aftermath.
Another source of aid will likely come from the Churches. For example, Lutheran Social Services is nationwide and they are very skilled in disaster recovery. I was trained by them.
Keep hope alive in your heart. This is very important for the community and people you love.
If I know people from Wisconsin - you guys will rebound with renewed gusto for life.
Again, I'm sorry for your loss. :hug:
 
thank you [MENTION=2578]K-gal[/MENTION]

You always have such wise things to say, I've noticed.
Thank you for sharing those words with me today;
it does help to set my mind at ease.
 
I'd just like to add my thoughts and concersn too [MENTION=3817]dream echo[/MENTION] . This is a terrible burden on any area, particularly one that's already down. I think you can look for the help K-Gal was talking about and smaller communities usually have a better reaction to these things in that people pull together and support the other more readily. Most know each other and/or are related. I'm very glad no one was killed, particularly those close to you. You have the ear and the support of the entire forum I am sure.
 
[MENTION=1705]Questingpoet[/MENTION]

Thank you, as always, my friend, for your compassion
and ability to see the hope in any situation.
 
Oh dear D: So sorry to hear that. Glad you're alright, and I hope the town will recover soon D:
 
Thank you [MENTION=2172]Trifoilum[/MENTION]

In the Industrial Park area, seven factories have been destroyed. At the airport, 20 hangars were damaged and several were destroyed. Ten planes were damaged and three planes were destroyed when they were flipped over by the wind or were crushed inside a hangar.

 News sources state that the tornado was rated an EF-3 on the enhanced fujita scale with peak winds between 130 and 140 mph. It tracked a distance of approximately 22 miles.

 [FONT=&quot]It took only a minute, so there aren't too many good photos or videos of the tornado itself, just the destruction.

Here's one of them...
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Are you ok?
How is recovery going for you guys?
Do you have electricity? Or are you on a generator.
 
[MENTION=2578]K-gal[/MENTION]

Thanks for your concern. :)

Power is restored. (My house never lost power completely, so I was thankfully able to provide hot showers and flushing toilets to my family members who weren't as lucky.)

People have been putting a lot of long days in, 7 days a week, working on clean-up.

A facebook page has been created to provide lists of needed supplies and volunteers to help in the efforts, and providing resources for those who need help.

All those rendered homeless by the tornado found a place to stay with friends or family, not even needing the rooms reserved in local motels by the salvation army. Isn't that awesome?!

Some employees are back to work at the plants that were less severely damaged in the industrial park. But most will be out of work for three to six months, depending on whether or not the plants can be repaired, or need to be completely rebuilt.

Lincoln County already had the 10th highest unemployment rate in Wisconsin; February listed us at 11.8%. It's expected to move up another 1-1.5 points. The immediate outlook is grim, but with hard work and hope, we'll move past this.
 
[URL="http://forums.infjs.com/[MENTION=2264 said:
Dream[/MENTION]%20echo"][MENTION=3817]dream echo[/MENTION][/URL];465609]

Thanks for your concern. :)

Power is restored. (My house never lost power completely, so I was thankfully able to provide hot showers and flushing toilets to my family members who weren't as lucky.)

People have been putting a lot of long days in, 7 days a week, working on clean-up.

A facebook page has been created to provide lists of needed supplies and volunteers to help in the efforts, and providing resources for those who need help.

All those rendered homeless by the tornado found a place to stay with friends or family, not even needing the rooms reserved in local motels by the salvation army. Isn't that awesome?!

Some employees are back to work at the plants that were less severely damaged in the industrial park. But most will be out of work for three to six months, depending on whether or not the plants can be repaired, or need to be completely rebuilt.

Lincoln County already had the 10th highest unemployment rate in Wisconsin; February listed us at 11.8%. It's expected to move up another 1-1.5 points. The immediate outlook is grim, but with hard work and hope, we'll move past this.
Click to expand...

Good to hear dream echo!

And yes - it's awesome to hear that people had families to stay with while being homeless. I hope it works out for all of them. Strife can be a time to bring people together - so here's to this being one of those times. :hug:
 
dream echo said:
[MENTION=2578]K-gal[/MENTION]

Thanks for your concern. :)

Power is restored. (My house never lost power completely, so I was thankfully able to provide hot showers and flushing toilets to my family members who weren't as lucky.)

People have been putting a lot of long days in, 7 days a week, working on clean-up.

A facebook page has been created to provide lists of needed supplies and volunteers to help in the efforts, and providing resources for those who need help.

All those rendered homeless by the tornado found a place to stay with friends or family, not even needing the rooms reserved in local motels by the salvation army. Isn't that awesome?!

Some employees are back to work at the plants that were less severely damaged in the industrial park. But most will be out of work for three to six months, depending on whether or not the plants can be repaired, or need to be completely rebuilt.

Lincoln County already had the 10th highest unemployment rate in Wisconsin; February listed us at 11.8%. It's expected to move up another 1-1.5 points. The immediate outlook is grim, but with hard work and hope, we'll move past this.
Click to expand...

As out of place as this might be, if the plants need a lot of repairs or total overhauls from this, couldn't that mean more job opportunities would arise for the unemployed of the area? That might be something of a bright side...
 
Detective Conan said:
As out of place as this might be, if the plants need a lot of repairs or total overhauls from this, couldn't that mean more job opportunities would arise for the unemployed of the area? That might be something of a bright side...
Click to expand...

[MENTION=1313]Detective Conan[/MENTION]

You'd think so, wouldn't you? But the majority of the workers here (33% of the town population) are machine operators and general laborers, and not certified to do the kind of work required for rebuilding.

And unfortunately, our town has traditionally not accepted bids from local construction companies (3-4% of the population, most of which have folded or moved elsewhere since the economy took a shit anyway), because they can get lower estimates from elsewhere. I think the best we can hope for is to get these plants running again ASAP. Of course, with businesses having their orders filled elsewhere in the interim...
 
dream echo said:
[MENTION=1313]Detective Conan[/MENTION]

You'd think so, wouldn't you? But the majority of the workers here (33% of the town population) are machine operators and general laborers, and not certified to do the kind of work required for rebuilding.

And unfortunately, our town has traditionally not accepted bids from local construction companies (3-4% of the population, most of which have folded or moved elsewhere since the economy took a shit anyway), because they can get lower estimates from elsewhere. I think the best we can hope for is to get these plants running again ASAP. Of course, with businesses having their orders filled elsewhere in the interim...
Click to expand...

Well so much for that... Guess the glass wasn't nearly as half-full as I thought it would be.
 
Detective Conan said:
Well so much for that... Guess the glass wasn't nearly as half-full as I thought it would be.
Click to expand...

[MENTION=1313]Detective Conan[/MENTION]

Maybe not...but we're gonna do the best we can with that half-full glass.
And there are people here who really care and are volunteering to help
put things back together again.

Hopefully the rest will work itself out....
 
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