We live at the 6500 block of this same street. This gentleman told me while I was taking this photograph, that he'd fallen asleep in the kitchen while watching the news regarding the storms. He was awakened by a loud thud. I'll say.

Here you can see the aftermath of two tornadoes that ripped trhough our small city early Friday morning. In the background is the Gladstone water tower.

This is what's left of the front of a pawn shop, located on one of Gladstone's main streets.

Shown here is the rear view of the same building.

Debris from the pawn shop was strewn for 500 feet in all directions. The very next morning after the storm, police were stationed all around to prevent looters from stealing things thrown about. Little worries however, as all of it was trash afterwards.

These cats showed up while I was shooting the pawn shop building.

This guy came up while I was taking pictures & just started talking with me. I begged Salena to get in the interview with me, but she's soooooo shy. It was all she could do to peek up through the windshield enough to take these pictures.

I was describing the wind as it ripped through my neighborhood. Looks kind of like I'm droppin the hammer.

Everybody got into the act. I smiled and did my best to look like I wasn't interested in being interviewed again, but it didn't work. They must have heard about my spot on Channel 5.

They were here helping folks find new places to live, while their houses got bulldozed. They fed folks, gave out coffee & offered emotional support. Such an awful thing.

The roof on the local Block Buster was simply peeled away.

Read the sign on the front door. No kidding.

This duplex was completely demolished. I spoke with some police officers I know & they told me no one was hurt in this entire catastrophe. They'd made it downstairs to safety before it hit. Unbelievable. The crime scene tape is clearly visible.

Imagine having all your personal kitchen items on display for anyone standing on the street. The devastation is amazing ... and complete. You walk through here & few words are spoken.

If they have nothing else, they still have their sense of humor. An officer friend of mine told me this guy came out, stuck this "For Sale" sign up & announced, "I'm accepting any reasonable offers". Really, what else can you do, but try and make a little light out of it all?

No one was even injured in this mess. Everyone got to the basement in time. No sirens, no warnings, just good sense.

This shot was taken just one week after the previous four.

This is the new duplex that sits at the same address, 30 August 2008, just ninety days after it was destroyed.

Three months later, same street.

This was the rear of the Cash America Pawn Shop just after day break.

The dreary day seemed to match the mood of everyone around, taking in the madness.

This sign was on the front of the building, and thrown by an EF02 tornado, clear across the street.

Police cars patroled up and down the street in order to discourage looters.

I actually lived in this house in the early 1970s, when I was a young boy. The street was covered in trees, trash & assorted debris.

Again, this house is just up the street from my own.

Reads the sign on the tree laying in the front yard. The interesting thing about this shot is there's no hole near the tree. It had been ripped from the ground and thrown where it lay, from who knows where?

When compared to his neighbors. Then again, he still has all this tree mess in his yard.

These poor folks were having to clear everything away as people walked past. One lady walked up & entered the open portion of the house. The lady who owns the place directed, "wipe your feet please". I love these people.

We knew nothing could be saved after the storm. Still, as we looked at the wreckage of someone's home a week later, it came as a sad surprise to note they were preparing to bulldoze this entire corner.

This was the same house as two pictures prior. Notice the way the walkway jogs this way and that.

Cleaning up the debris.

Shown are the owners, doing what they can to salvage what's left of their home.

The foundation is well in tact. These folks too, made it downstairs before they were hit. Nobody in this mess even had a scratch on them.

Same Summer

There used to be a tree under here. This is stuff that had been blown up against the tree. Swimming pools, lawn chairs, & such.

Remnants of what's left of a children's playground.

Again, the children's playground of Continental Apartments.

Now that the depris has been picked up for the children to safely play again, there are no children left.

You can see how this small tree branch had been speared through a flying door. Or perhaps the flying door into the tree branch. Who knows?

This little house had its roof shaved free & spread across the front yard. Even thirty six hours later, we were stepping over insulation & plyboards strewn about the sidewalk & street.

This whole street looked like a war zone.

This guy lost his tree, but that was about it.

This guy couldn't even get into his own driveway because of all the debris.

All that happened to this owner was a broken tree. Nothing in comparison to his neighbor's.

These trees had been ripped out and sent here from "somewhere". They look as if they'd been put here on purpose, ever so gently.

This house is two up from my own.

Again, this huge tree had been torn from the ground & put here ... from somewhere. It lay against this house in the front yard, but if you looked at the rest of the street, you couldn't tell from where this tree had originally come.

Look at this house. All that's left are the walls. It's going to have to be completely bulldozed. The owners were given a chance to remove their belongings, but that was about it.

Folks here were busy just hauling away trash, along with several personal items.

There was one woman taken to the hospital with injuries, but nobody else on this entire block was injured in the tornado. However, lots of people were simply overcome the next day or so after seeing what had happened to their homes & their lives. Ambulances like this one were very busy taking care of that kind of trauma.

Did I mention a War Zone? There were no lights, no electricity. These portable lights were all up & down this block. Firetrucks were on hand because of the water they held, as well as the obvious reasons.

This school sign was nearly blown over into traffic.

Now this is Oak Hill Day School. Many moons ago it was Linden East Elementary School, in Gladstone.

Here is a wider shot of the same school.

This was a piece to someone's roof. It was sent flying into & wrapped around, a telephone pole.

While roofs were ripped from there footings, & buildings demolished to the foundation, this RV didn't even move from its parking spot along side this house. The pressure was so great however, that the windows were all blown out.

Here you can see the windows to this RV are all blown out.

Here you can see the debris field scattered all around this house.

If you look closely at this house, you can see its windows have all been sucked out just like the RV parked next to it. The air pressure must have been terrific.

These trees were flung in this man's yard. None of them belonged there.

Here a large tree has been turned into toothpicks.

One last look at the Gladstone water tower. Here is where the cleanup begins.

Hazelmarie & her Vati take a look around their neighborhood. It was simply amazing. What struck me right off, was how six hours after this storm, I was driving around taking pictures & noticed people already starting the cleanup. They had chain saws out, pickup trucks to haul debris away. They took no time for self pity. They got up, dusted themselves off & went to work. I love this place & these people.

This was taken a week after the tornado.