Please keep Novinger, MO in your prayers

[Eeyores Butterfly]

Please keep the people of Novinger, MO in your prayers. As some of you may know, last Wednesday the Kirksville?novinger area was hit by tornadoes. A car dealership and several homes in Kirksville were damaged and three people lost their lives in mobile homes. Although there were no deaths in Novinger, they were hit far worse. Many houses were totally destroyed. To add insult to injury flooding along the Charitong river (which is right by Novinger, I drove over it every day on my way to town) has hampered clean up efforts.

This is not an economically advantaged area. The town has just over 500 people in city limits and the only paved road is the one the school is on. The town was without power following the storms and some areas may not have power until two weeks after the storm. This has forced many business to close temporarily which of course affects their profits.

The school cancelled classes Thursday and Friday, this was the school where I just completed my student teaching. They had to postpone their graduation until tonight, and I'm sure this is not what the grads were expecting as they move on. When they should be excited about jobs and college they are now focused on replacing what they have lost.

On Memorial Day the town hosts their annual Coal Miner Days which is a popular area attraction and really brings in money. They have had to cancel it this year due to all the damage.

If you all could see this town, it is absolutely amazing. Our secretary lost everything in a house fire back in December. The entire town held a benefit at the school to raise money to help her rebuild. They raise a ton of money and quite a few people signed up to help with the construction efforts. This is a community that really cares about each other and I know they will really band together to help those affected by the storms. Please keep them in their prayers. Although the media has moved on, they have a long road ahead of them.

 

[MoniqueU]

That is sad. I was just posting earlier that earthquakes are fine with me but no tornadoes. I hope they can recover, I feel horrible for those without power. I will keep them in my thoughts, the news hasn't reported much on it from what I can tell.

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

I just got back from driving by the damage. The Baptist Church and the downtown businesses in Novinger have been very hard hit. I also drove by the neighborhood in Kirksville where most of the damage was done and the car dealerships.

It just makes me want to cry. The neighborhood in Kirksville that sustained most of the damage is a newer/wealthier one, so fairly large houses. There were houses that were so damanged they are completely unlivable, where entire sections were blown away. A lot of roof/window damage too. In both Novinger and Kirksville there are several places where piles of rubble sit where houses once were. Houses that were totally destroyed or destroyed beyond the point of repair. In front of one house is an RV that looks like a giant fist crumpled it up like a wad of paper. At least in Novinger the flooding has gone down. Atlhough the river is still out of its banks like it has been most of this spring, it is no longer closing the highway or hampering the efforts of the clean up.

The Toyota dealership it looks like they have received new cars from the company, but the entire building is boarded up as all the windows were blown out. It's one thing hearing about it and seeing pictures, but it's quite another to see it in person. Recovery is going to be a long time coming. These are fromn the news outlets around here:

 

[browneyes106]

I will the town in my prayers. I had relatives who dealt with a lot of tornadoes when they lived in Tennessee and it was scary to think about them.