PTR: Novinger (where I teach) gets hit by tornadoes

[Swoosh]

As some of you know, I teach in a suburb of Kirksville, called Novinger.
Tonight around 5pm we had two tornadoes go through the area and one hit Novinger.  While I didn't get to go down to the area that was hit the hardest, here is some of the areas that I did get to go to to take photos of.

The best part is that everyone is all right and no one got hurt. 
Right now they are speculating that it will take up to 2 weeks to get all the electricity restored as the poles have been damaged extensively.

[Swoosh]

Here's some photos from today.
Was able to get closer to "Ground Zero" in Kirskville today.
The damage there is unreal.

Working on getting power restored near Ground Zero


What's left of the Jim Robertson's car dealership












This is what's left of Lakeside Estates, one of the nicer neighborhoods in Kirksville.













Here is one house that got caught in the path of the tornado near Novinger


Down powerlines in Novinger


Downtown buildings destroyed in Novinger




The rest are photos of the area that the tornado went through near Novinger and of the power lines being worked on

[Zephon]

I don't know what to say...awesome pictures or terrible pictures.  You were hit really bad.  I'm glad there were no serious injuries.

[shavethewhales]

Wow, that all really sucks. We had some tornadoes out around Bartlesville as well, but I don't think any actually hit the town. We did have a 100mph microburst that destroyed part of a mission, but not much else luckily.

[Swoosh]

Update Time:

Still no power in Novinger, which means another day without school for us.  No idea if we are going to have to make them up -- I hope not.  I don't want to have school after Memorial Day. 

3 deaths total.  1 in Milan, a woman who got smeared when the tornado hit her trailer.  2 in Novinger, an older couple from California that no one in town seemed to know -- must have kept to themselves when they were in town.  idk.

We made national news today with ABCNews doing a live broadcast from Kirksville (where I live) as well as many other news outlets from around the state -- mainly Columbia and KC.  TWC also had some people sent in.  Lots of newcopters flying around the area.

Nice to see Kirksville finally recognized that it exists, but would rather it not be in this fashion.

===

Zephon I know exactly what you mean.  I think the photos turned out great for the most part, but I wish I didn't have those subjects to photograph.

[HollyAnn]

Was there any damage done to Truman's campus?

[sdcforever]

Was there any damage done to Truman's campus?

Nope.  I live near Truman's campus and it missed us by only about a mile, which isn't much since the tornado itself was over a 1/4 mile in diameter.  It was scary watching the skies.

[Swoosh]

^Don't you live over by the armory?

[sdcforever]

^No, we live just north of the corner of First and LaHarpe.

[Swoosh]

Wow you live closer to us then I thought.
We live over on South Marion off of LaHarpe

[sdcforever]

^Wow.  That is close.  This may seem like a weird question, but I have to ask.  Last week, maybe Tuesday or Wednesday evening around 6 PM were you and Melissa walking south on Franklin toward LaHarpe?  I was getting into my blue Buick Century, which was the only car parked in the Grim/Smith Hospital lot at the corner of Patterson and Franklin.  You looked at me and I thought, "Wait a sec...is that Swoosh?!!?"  I wanted to say "hi", but wasn't sure if it was you or not and didn't want to seem like an idiot if I was wrong.   I have to ask you this because it's been bugging me for over a week now!