Here are some pictures of storm damage near Joplin MO from the tornado last Saturday that touched down and ran for about 70 miles. The small towns of Picher OK and Newtonia MO were pretty much wiped out.
Notice the bird house pretty much survived.
Thanks Dawn
My sister and her family live in a house about 300 yards to the SW of the former (but now much more famous) Lant’s Feed Store/Wedding Chapel – their house is one of two at the end of the first right turn to the south if you’re looking at the intersection of HWY 43 and Iris Road on Google Earth. Amazing how capricious a F4 tornado can be. They only had a window broken from a hailstone, and the trampoline in the back yard didn’t even move. I’m very thankful they’re OK.
Hmmm, from this I learned it is a lot safer to be in a birdhouse than a car during a tornado.
I’m 8 miles south of Picher in Miami, OK. Sounds funny to say, but if a disaster had to happen to a town, Picher would be the town to wipe out. Although there were 6 deaths from the EF4 tornado and another death from CO poisoning from a generator afterwards, it could have been worse. The town once had a population of around 20,000 during lead mining days. At the time of the storm there were only about 800 residents. Picher is in one of the biggest superfund sites in the country with the government in the process of buying out all residents who are willing to move. Several have refused to move even though lead contamination and sinkholes have ruined the town. I’m guessing many of the homes destroyed were vacant.