[78-L] Tornados in Dallas area

[Stewart, Joseph R]

Cary Ginell asked about collectors in Joplin, MO... can't say I know of any, but we're 70 miles up I-44, and one or another of our reporters (Missy Shelton and/or Jennifer Moore) has been in Joplin filing reports to NPR all week.  As everyone says, it's far more horrific to view in person than even high-def TV can make it look.  But I was nearly in the middle (to the tune of $10,000 damage to the house) of the May 2003 tornado that flattened part of my neighborhood in Battlefield MO (100 homes in town destroyed, one fatality), which demolished the town of Pierce City... and those twisters were "only" EF-3s.   Biggest problem around here is the extremely rocky clay dirt in this part of the region makes digging out deep basements exceedingly difficult and expensive, so relatively few homes have them.

Randy Stewart
Arts Producer
KSMU
901 S. National
Springfield MO 65897