Welcome to The United States. A week after the tornado officials are having a hard time sorting and delivering all the supplies coming in.
A point to make: I know a few of you on here are anti-religious or anti-church BUT the initial aid coming in, apart from local emergency services, was nearly completely from churches. My oldest sister and brother in law had their detached garage destroyed and two huge oaks blown over in their yard. A local church group showed up last Saturday afternoon, less than 24 hours after the disaster, and started clearing the debris. They worked two and a half days ocaisonally leaving to help other groups with a more critical task. A lot if not most of the cleanup away from the direct path has been done by these groups. Small tractors have played a huge part in this cleanup. People are going around with crews tarping roofs for free. People and churches are buying tarps and donating them. The churches have become staging areas for a lot of the aid coming in. Drove by a small church that has maybe sixty mostly older members and the parking lot was full of trailers, busses, vans, and tarped supplies. The preacher has a full time job elsewhere but his wife and oldest daughter were there along with older members trying to organize and direct.
Our part has been to babysit grandchildren while our children and their spouses have had critical tasks to take care of.
Things to do at my home. First will be to get a transfer switch installed so I can attach the generator and power the entire house and do away with all the cords. OR, I will purchase one of those whole house generators. I made fun of people who installed them after the 2009 ice storm BUT with us having two sets of gas logs and a gas water heater the whole house generator would give our entire family a place to stay in another catastrophe.
Sister called in the middle of typing this post. Insurance adjuster just left her house. The girl was from Texas and pointed out things my sister had missed. First, all the seals in the double paned windows are broken. All the windows in the house will have to be replaced. The house is brick except on the ends at the top and that vinyl siding will have to be replaced on both ends. Luckily the roof contractor was there and walked around with the adjuster and my sister. The adjuster said the patio roof needed to be taken off and replaced but the contractor said it could be repaired with the four columns replaced. Adjuster found cracks in the sheetrock inside in nearly every room that need repaired. She also found cracks in rafters in the attic that the house inspector had missed.
Nephew has had to have somebody answer his phone and screen calls. Has too much going on.
If you are thinking of making a donation or sending aid please wait a few days or weeks. Everybody is overwhelmed right now. Consider donating to individuals like the guy I posted about last night that closed his business and is spending all his time cooking for the displaced and workers.
Some of the big name charities have not shown up...... as far as I know anyway.
I am shocked that corporations like Walmart, Loves, McDonalds, Tide, etc. have responded so quickly. They are selling a lot of stuff, but they are having to pay for extra staffing, transportation, etc. It seems they have knowledge of what is needed and are rushing it in as quickly as possible. The only item not fully stocked at Walmart was the beer aisle. Hmmm,....wonder why they weren't restocking that.
Farmers are finding dead livestock, deer, birds, and other animals in the fields near the tornado's path.
There are no squirrels or birds in Mayfield.
Life goes on........
RSKY
