A gloomy night spent searching for life

BY MICHAEL OVERALL World Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
5/24/11 at 11:41 AM

See continuing coverage of the tornado in Joplin.

JOPLIN, Mo. - A front-loader goes down the street first, pushing aside tree trunks and rooftops and overturned cars, clearing a path for the firetruck.

"Over there," a sheriff's deputy says as he points a flashlight at a particular pile of debris. "That's where it is."

It's 2 a.m. Monday, nearly nine hours after a massive tornado left a good part of central Joplin looking like Berlin at the end of World War II.

Nothing but rubble stretches for mile after mile, dazed survivors wandering through the wreckage, the night so dark that a downed power line stays invisible until it's already underfoot.

The firetruck stops in the 2400 block of South Kentucky Avenue, where witnesses say at least three, maybe four people were home when the storm hit.

More than a dozen firefighters, pickaxes and shovels in hand, climb on top of the pile. One of them yells for somebody to turn off the front-loader's engine.

Turn off the firetruck. Turn off the radios.

"Quiet! Quiet!"

Everybody stands still. Waiting. Listening. Hoping.

A dog barks in the distance. A helicopter rumbles overhead. And from somewhere deep under the rubble across the street, an alarm clock is beeping.

But nothing comes from the debris where the firefighters are standing, and after a few moments, the firefighters start to dig..

Five or six strain together to lift a bathtub, turning it on its side.

The victim apparently did what experts say to do. Seek shelter near the center of the house, perhaps a bathroom. Lie in the tub.

The firefighters stop and bow their heads.

A coroner's white Chevrolet van backs up to the scene.

Nobody speaks. Nobody moves, except the ones who open the body bag and bend over to fill it.

The coroner peeks inside the open zipper, offering a glimpse of a white arm and red sleeve.

A deputy makes the sign of the cross. The coroner drives away and the firefighters begin to pack up their gear.

The firefighters head back to "central command" to receive their next orders. From the top of the hill on Kentucky Avenue, a dozen sets of blue-and-red flashing lights can be seen across the neighborhood, each marking the spot of another search.

Original Print Headline: All night, the search for life

Michael Overall 918-581-8383
michael.overall@tulsaworld.com

Associated Images:

Rescue workers search Monday for survivors and bodies inside tornado-damaged St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Joplin, Mo. The storm destroyed about a third of the city. ADAM WISNESKI / Tulsa World

Lisa Troyer (left) hugs her mom on the front porch of her tornado-damaged home in Jay, Okla., on Monday. MIKE SIMONS / Tulsa World

Yvonne Goodman, 69, is helped to an SUV by medical personnel outside her home in Joplin, Mo., on Monday. JEFF LAUTENBERGER / Tulsa World

Samantha Savage helps salvage items at the site of her friend’s destroyed home in Joplin, Mo., on Sunday. ADAM WISNESKI / Tulsa World

The debris-splattered wall of a home in Joplin is seen Monday after the residence was damaged by the tornado that ravaged parts of the city Sunday. ADAM WISNESKI / Tulsa World