This morning I woke up at 4.30 am wide awake due to a shocking nightmare. I was stunned that I was in a shed, literally floored that I wasn't in a comfortable home. It was one of those times when you simply can't believe what you are experiencing, this simply cannot be true. Then the tornado victims came to mind, and I couldn't imagine what it would be like to wake up and find loved ones dead and so much destruction around you.
Today more people died as tornadoes touched down in other states.
The weather has been simply glorious in the Ruidoso region for the past few days, so nice that you almost feel guilty when you hear the nightmare so many others are facing in other states. Yet still I cannot find any help to get that barn and single wide finished ~ or even started.
I am desperately trying to remain upbeat, desperately trying to find anything to cling onto.
Yet I am physically so ill that I must look like a waif and stray - beyond hope. Nightmares plague me and panic engulfs me. I have no idea how to find any help to get into a home.
As of May 2011 Robert Huckins owes me $76,720.24. But it's costing more trying to deal with the health problems associated with being homeless than the State of New Mexico demanded that he pay me per month.
This is so wrong. So evil.
And still the mid-west takes a beating:
Residents of Joplin still missing
JOPLIN, Mo. — About 1,500 people are unaccounted for in this battered city, a Fire Department official said Tuesday, as rescue workers took advantage of a few hours of sunny weather to continue searching for survivors in buildings leveled by the country’s deadliest tornado in more than 60 years. At least 122 people have died.While the number of those unaccounted for is alarmingly high in a city with only 49,000 people — and raises the specter of a far higher death count — it may merely be a reflection of the widespread breakdown of communication systems here in the wake of Sunday’s vicious storm. Many residents who fled ahead of the tornado or survived it may be unable to notify the authorities or family members who have reported them missing.
Capt. Robert Daus of the Maryland Heights Fire District, who is helping to lead a team of about 100 St. Louis-area firefighters in search and rescue operations in Joplin, said that in addition to the 1,500 people who remain unaccounted for, an additional 750 had been injured by the tornado, which cut a three-quarter-mile-wide path through this southwestern Missouri city and damaged as many as 30 percent of its buildings.
The National Weather Service said the tornado that struck the city Sunday evening was an EF5 storm, with winds greater than 200 mph — the most powerful category of tornado.While much of Tuesday provided a respite from the nearly unrelenting rain and wind that had hampered rescue efforts, more challenging weather may be on the way. An unusually strong weather system moving east across the Rockies is expected to mix with moist air heading north from the Gulf of Mexico, carrying with it the possibility of creating severe storms late Tuesday.
“We are expecting some violent storms to develop across Kansas and Oklahoma today bringing rain, hail and the risk of tornadoes that could move into the Joplin area this evening,” said Doug Cramer, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. “This is a very good set up for very big tornadoes.”
A tornado touched down Tuesday afternoon about two miles north of Canton, Okla., according the National Weather Service. The Associated Press was also reporting Oklahoma City metropolitan area at the start of evening rush hour, damaging homes and injuring a number of people.On Tuesday morning, American flags flew outside many houses in Joplin, including flags that had been draped over sections of ruined homes. When there was not enough structure of a house left behind to support a flag, flags were placed in nearby trees that had somehow managed to retain a few branches.
About one-third of the most heavily damaged sections of the city were cordoned off by the authorities on Tuesday as rescue teams with dogs combed rubble. The doors of houses that had been searched were marked with an “X.” If bodies were found inside, a number was listed under the “X.”
The authorities said they planned to complete a second sweep through the city on Tuesday, methodically examining every structure that had been damaged — at least 2,000.
On Monday, crews pulled seven people out of buildings that had collapsed, officials said. But on Tuesday, some 60 hours after the tornado struck, no survivors had been found.
“We’re hoping to find more folks, that’s why we’re doing these searches,” said Keith Stammer, the Jasper County emergency management director.
Mr. Stammer said the city planned on conducting at least two more rounds of searches, but those would likely not take place until after the storm expected Tuesday evening had passed.
Earlier Tuesday, President Obama, who is on a state trip in Britain, said that he was monitoring the federal response to the tornado and that he planned to visit Missouri on Sunday “to talk with folks who’ve been affected, to talk to local officials about our response effort and hopefully to pray with folks and give them whatever assurance and comfort I can that the entire country is going to be behind them.”
Among the buildings that search and rescue teams were focusing on Tuesday was Hampshire Terrace, a 100-unit apartment complex with about 300 tenants, where the tornado’s fierce winds had ripped off and blown away nearly the entire second story of the two-floor building.
Jessica Blackwood, 22, who had lived in Hampshire Terrace with her 2-year-old son, was not at home when the tornado hit. Her grandmother, who lived in another unit in the complex was also not home and escaped harm. But Ms. Blackwood said she is very worried about her neighbors.
“I keep hearing the count go up and I keep praying it stops,” she said. “I’m so scared one of these times I’m going to hear a name a know.”
Firefighters and cadaver-sniffing dogs have been through the building twice, officials said and have not reported finding bodies or making rescues. On Tuesday, a team of 50 firefighters planned to spend all day long going through the building’s debris.
“It’s absolutely gone. It’s a total loss,” said Rick Plush, president of the building’s management agency, the Heritage Management Corporation, based in Topeka, Kan. “You want to be optimistic, but when you see the level of devastation, you wonder if there aren’t parts of people in the rubble. We are as optimistic as we can be.”
Most of the building’s residents were low- or moderate-income families, including elderly people and families with children, said Amy Thompson, vice president of Heritage Management. About 20 percent of the tenants received federal Section 8 housing vouchers.
The company said that it had set up a special web site and that it had established a special phone number for tenants to call, but that the whereabouts of only seven or eight tenants had been determined so far.
“When something like this happens, people scatter and I think most people are still in survival mode - making sure they have food and a place to live,” Ms. Thompson said. “Hopefully within three or four days, we’ll have heard from a lot more people.
Oklahoma and Kansas:
Severe thunderstorms are exploding across Oklahoma and Kansas this evening. A Particularly Dangerous Situation tornado watch has been issued from southern Kansas and northern Texas.
In Kansas, several supercell thunderstorms have developed with a significant threat for tornadoes, damaging winds and hail. Severe storms are north and east of Wichita.
A large tornado was reported on the ground near Hinton and is tracking north of Oklahoma City, with another one to the south affecting Chickasha and is tracking past Newcastle and Moore and headed toward Northwest Norman.
At least four people are dead with at least eight more suspected dead from the tornadoes in Oklahoma near El Reno and Piedmont. At least 30 homes have been destroyed.
These tornadoes are rain-wrapped, making them hard to see and hear. Do NOT wait to see the the tornado. Take cover if you are near this area.
Numerous damage reports have been swarming in, from downed power lines and trees to cars tossed off roadways. A wind gust of 80 mph was recorded Pratt, Kan. with a 69 mph gust recorded at Tinker Air Force Base.
Baseball to softball-sized hail was reported in Pierceville, Kan. Hail was also reported to cover the ground in Timkin, Kan.
Winds associated with this storm overturned a tractor trailer on I-40.
Missouri
A band of severe thunderstorms moved just north of I-70. Numerous wind damage reports were associated with this complex of thunderstorms. Another round of severe thunderstorms is expected tonight and may affect the Joplin area.
Tornadoes kill two near Oklahoma City
A deadly string of tornadoes and thunderstorms rampaged Tuesday through central Oklahoma, killing at least two people, injuring many others and destroying homes and vehicles, officials said.Canadian County Sheriff Randall Edwards told CNN a large tornado that crossed I-40 near El Reno destroyed residences and caused a gas leak at an energy plant west of the state capital.
County Emergency Management Director Jerry Smith told CNN the storm, which eventually moved past Calumet and Edmond, north of Oklahoma City, killed two and caused numerous injuries.
The twister injured motorists on Interstate 40 and U.S. 81, Smith said. Deputies were attending to the injured, and there were reports of property damage in the area.
Another tornado was seen at Chickasha, about 40 miles southwest of Oklahoma City. It later reached Newcastle, closing in on Moore and Norman, suburbs of Oklahoma City.
The National Weather Service warned residents and I-44 drivers to take precautionary action.
"It came right past the store," said Chickasha AutoZone employee Nathaniel Charlton. "They had a little debris thrown across the parking lot. It was on the ground, but it wasn't bad."
Sirens went off about 20 minutes before the storm pushed through, Charlton told CNN.
State officials received reports of damaged businesses in Chickasha.
"This is an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation," the National Weather Service said.
The weather agency's Storm Prediction Center in Norman was evacuated and employees took shelter as a tornado approached, a spokesman told CNN. Responsibilities were transferred to the U.S. Air Force Global Weather Central at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska.
Gov. Mary Fallin said residents should take tornado warnings and reports "very seriously." .
"We're still in the middle of a big storm," she told CNN's John King as strong storms moved across her state Tuesday evening. First responders were heading toward communities that have reported damage to homes, Fallin said.
Tornado warnings were issued in Oklahoma County, Canadian County and Grady County, indicating other twisters had touched down.
CNN Oklahoma City affiliates broadcast images of funnel clouds that were dumping rain as they moved into more populated areas.
More twisters and severe thunderstorms were expected to push through the region and threaten Joplin, Missouri, which was devastated by a tornado on Sunday.
Tornado watches were in effect Tuesday afternoon in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas.
In anticipation of the severe weather, American Airlines canceled 126 arriving and departing flights at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, spokesman Ed Martelle told CNN.
Operations were suspended late Tuesday afternoon at Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City.
A "particularly dangerous situation" tornado watch was issued for a large part of Oklahoma and northern Texas until 10 p.m. CT. This includes Oklahoma City and portions of the Dallas/Fort Worth metro area, according to CNN meteorologist Dave Hennen.
The Storm Prediction Center said the high-risk area for severe storms includes southern Kansas, most of Oklahoma and southward into Texas.
Surrounding the high-risk area is a large "moderate"-risk area where tornadoes are possible. This includes the cities of Dallas; Kansas City, Missouri; Springfield, Missouri; and Joplin.
The worst for Joplin is expected to be between 8 p.m. and midnight. Tornadoes, large hail and damaging winds are possible, according to Hennen.
The tornado threat will slowly diminish late Tuesday evening and overnight, but isolated tornadoes, large hail and damaging straight-line (non-tornado-type) winds will continue.
The tornado that struck Joplin on Sunday killed at least 118 people, authorities said Tuesday, making it the deadliest single U.S. tornado since modern record-keeping began more than 60 years ago.
Tornadoes Kill At Least 7 In Canadian, Cleveland Counties:
OKLAHOMA CITY -- The number of people killed by Tuesday's severe weather in central Oklahoma is rising.
Authorities reported at least four people died in Canadian County when tornadoes swept through. The death toll is between three and five in Cleveland County.
Storm Photos 5/24/11 Dozens of tornadoes popped up across the state Tuesday afternoon, living long lines of destruction across the state.
The News 9 Weather Team began warning people Monday that the severe weather risk would be high May 24, and urged people to prepare themselves.
In just under three hours, News 9 Storm Trackers spotted twisters in Piedmont, Guthrie, Newcastle, Chickasha, Stillwater, El Reno, Hinton, Moore, Norman and Fairview.
It is not work that kills men, it is worry. Work is healthy; you can hardly put more on a man than he can bear. But worry is rust upon the blade. It is not movement that destroys the machinery, but friction. ~-Henry Ward Beecher
