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Tornado Survivors Survey Damages
Written by Bonnie Gillespie, Staff Writer, RedCross.org
Kansas City, Kansas, May 6, 2003 —
Dorthea Spears of Kansas City, KS, stood looking at the empty foundation where her home used to sit before it was demolished by a twister on Sunday. Surrounded by destruction, she simply feels lucky to be alive. “I have more to be thankful for than I could ever say, so there is no room for complaining,” she said. “Everything happens for a reason, and I believe I’ll have a better home than this one some day.”
When a tornado roared through Kansas City, Ks., on May 4th, even massive trees were toppled and hundreds of homes damaged.
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Neither Spears nor her two teenage daughters were home Sunday night when a tornado plowed their house and two adjacent dwellings with enough force to toss a refrigerator and other appliances hundreds of yards up a nearby hillside. But, like many in their neighborhood, came home to find a wasteland of rubble.
In the wake of the 80 deadly tornadoes that ripped through the Midwest on Sunday, American Red Cross staff and volunteers are rushing aid to people like Spears and thousands of other victims across the affected region.
Portions of Kansas, Missouri and Tennessee were torn apart by dozens of twisters as the massive storm system leveled entire communities, uprooted trees and electric poles and reduced homes to splintered piles of rubble. Widespread recovery efforts are underway, with the Red Cross working alongside federal and local emergency personnel and electric crews to meet the pressing needs of disaster victims.
“The damage is incredibly severe but people seem to be in good spirits for the most part,” said Connie Chang, a Red Cross volunteer from Kansas City, Mo., who traveled from a neighboring city to assist victims in Leavenworth County, KS.
Brick homes in this neighborhood in Kansas City were not immune to the destructive force of the recent rash of vicious tornadoes.
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Traversing the hardest hit parts around the Kansas City area, Chang and other volunteers restocked their Red Cross Emergency Response Vehicle (ERV) countless times on Monday, supplying local victims with meals, first aid kits and other recovery supplies.
Like many communities along the path of destruction, debris from razed houses litters the streets of Kansas City. A twister carved a trail through the remnants of Ruby Barcus’ home as well.
“When flooding wiped me out in 1996, I survived, and so I know I’ll recover from this,” said Barcus, who was exhausted after a day of sifting through piles of rubble. “Thankfully, though, I found most of my medicine in a kitchen cabinet that’s still standing.”
Other area residents escaped the storm’s crushing force and have homes still standing, but with more than 80 tornadoes churning through the area that night, it was nearly impossible to avoid contact with at least one of the twisters. Longtime Missouri resident Michael Brown and his wife were driving on a freeway when they spotted a massive funnel cloud spiraling toward them.
“I have never been so scared in all my life and jerked the car over to the side of the road. We climbed down into a ditch and stayed there until things quieted down,” said Brown. “Even though I’ve always given blood to the Red Cross over the years, now I’ve been reminded to go back and give again to help those people who did get hurt during the storm.”
Your Help is Needed
You can help the Red Cross assist victims of this and thousands of disasters across the country each year by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, which enables the Red Cross to provide shelter, food, counseling and other assistance to those in need. You can make a secure online credit card donation or call 1-800-HELP NOW (1-800-435-7669) or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish). Or you may send your donation to your local Red Cross or to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, D.C. 20013.
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All American Red Cross disaster assistance is free, made possible by voluntary donations of time and money from the American people. The Red Cross also supplies nearly half of the nation's lifesaving blood. This, too, is made possible by generous voluntary donations. You can help the victims of thousands of disasters across the country each year by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, which enables the Red Cross to provide shelter, food, counseling and other assistance to those in need. You can make a secure online credit card donation or call 1-800-HELP NOW (1-800-435-7669) or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish). Or you may send your donation to your local Red Cross or to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, D.C. 20013. To donate blood, please call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE (1-800-448-3543), or contact your local Red Cross to find out about upcoming blood drives.
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