Destruction in Joplin

The spring of 2011 was filled with natural disasters - tornadoes, flooding, and fires. In May a devastating EF5 multiple-vortex tornado hit Joplin, Missouri. On June 18th, Danny and I met the West Erwin church of Christ youth group to help with the disaster cleanup. We knew that it was bad, but the destruction was absolutely mind boggling. The scene shown below was seen over and over in Joplin.

Danny (on far left) is watching as a damaged house was being pulled down using a tractor and chain. Once the house was torn apart, the we began carrying pieces and debris to the street where large trucks would come and use a claw crane to pick it up and carry it off. This type work was being done all over the area.
In the house shown below, these two small powerful machines demolished this damaged house in no time. It was sad to see years of memories pushed down and done away with in just minutes.

I'm sure it will take years and years for Joplin to get back to "Normal." We were glad to have the opportunity to help these wonderful people out in a small way.