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You are here: Home / Open Threads / OKC Update

OKC Update

by | 33 Comments

This post is in: 

Betty Cracker–I’m sorry to bigfoot you like this, but I’m posting when I get a chance.  You can stomp all over me later, ma’am.

From VA Admin office:

For Employees:
• Impacted Employees: We have now accounted for 100% of our employees. Fortunately, as we get additional information the number of impacted employees has reduced.
10 employees have completely lost their homes
27 employees have minor to severe damage to their homes
5 employees have an unknown amount of damage to their homes
1 employee has an immediate family member injured

Also, flash flooding in the area damaged by the tornado and areas south of there is occurring today with the heavy rains we’ve had for the last several hours.   My house is in the region, but should be OK.  We built the ground up a couple of feet from the regular ground level and then built up from that.  The doors are about three feet above the normal level of the ground.  All around us is mainly open fields and the runoff abatement canal behind our house is a couple of feet below that.

Again, I and my family are all OK.  There are others who are much, much worse off.

UPDATE:  http://google.org/crisismap/2013-oklahoma-tornado

 Central Oklahoma Humane Society

Red Cross

Feed The Children

Reader Interactions

33Comments

  1. 1.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Thanks for taking the time to keep us up to date, Sooner. You’ve got your hands full. But the SITREP is greatly appreciated!

  2. 2.

    Betty Cracker

    No worries, brother — post when you can! Also, if we can set up a fundraiser to help out your colleagues who have lost their homes or to fund your volunteer supply distribution work, I’m sure many people here (including me) would be happy to contribute.

  4. 4.

    JPL

    Soonergrunt, Locally, kids are collecting toys to send to children in OK and it made me realize that all their books would have been destroyed. Is it feasible to set up an amazon wish list with children’s books to send to a local library to hand out?
    When my sons were small they loved going to the local independent book store to purchase books for lazy summer afternoons.

  6. 6.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    What VDE said. I didn’t get to your other threads until they were dusty, but I’m glad your family is well and that you checked in. Also, thank you for being the mensch we all knew you are (and John noted for us postulating why we hadn’t heard from you). Far too few people would make the effort to drop off supplies while looking for a loved one. I’m unsurprised that you did.

  7. 7.

    TRNC

    Toys, books and stuff may actually be more of a hassle for some at this point, but charity experts would know the skinny on that.

  9. 9.

    Mnemosyne

    Also, people who work for giant corporations should check and see if their company matches donations — I know that mine does, and it’s an easy way to double the amount of money you send to an organization like the Red Cross.

  10. 10.

    hedgehog the occasinal commenter

    Sooner, thanks for the news. Glad you and the family are OK. Just dropped some coin on the Red Cross. And what VDE @1 said.

  11. 11.

    Karen in GA

    Thanks for the update. I’m glad your house is a few feet above the flooding.

    (Also, too: flooding now? The EF-5 tornado wasn’t enough? Nature’s got some serious freakin’ issues.)

  12. 12.

    Original Lee

    @TRNC: I think you’re correct on this. The last presentation we had on disaster relief emphasized money, money, money because nobody has time to sift through donations at this point. They did say that in December, Toys for Tots could be an option for those who don’t want to give cash.

  14. 14.

    JPL

    @Original Lee: The local news showed items they were collecting to send to ok. When Katrina victims relocated to Atlanta, the place where I volunteer was set up as a place to get furniture and clothing but we were equipped with lots of volunteers to handle the load. BTW teddy bears and stuffed animals might make those who donate feel good, victims not so much.

  15. 15.

    David

    Speaking of disasters this comes from Newsmax:

    Rove: Jeb Bush ‘Smartest Guy, Biggest Thinker’ in GOP

  17. 17.

    JPL

    @David: Wow! If Jeb is the smartest guy in the GOP, they’re in trouble.
    Maybe he is mistaking intelligence with grifting. Your IQ doesn’t have to be that high to grift, ask Sarah.

  19. 19.

    raven

    @JPL: Whew, at least someone acknowledged it. I’m sure lots of people have me pied but damn. . . .

  25. 25.

    Yatsuno

    @Soonergrunt: Just make sure you’re taking care of yourself. We worry like Jewish mothers about you.

    (Okay that’s just me. But still…)

  26. 26.

    Anoniminous

    @JPL:

    Emergency Logistics Manager here.

    Don’t even bother trying to send “stuff.” It will end up in a landfill, via a dumpster, hundreds or thousands of miles from Moore. The reasons are quite simple:

    1. The vast majority of stuff donated is worthless.

    2. Nobody has the time to sort, tag, inventory, warehouse, pull from stock, put on a lading bill, box, load on (very restricted) truck space, unload, unbox, unpack, enter into the distribution inventory, put on (very restricted) warehouse shelving … where it will sit because nobody wants it so nobody is going to order it. Upshot: so nobody will put it into the upstream supply channel.

  27. 27.

    Keith G

    @raven: Who would pie our favorite fisherman and part time curmudgeon? I have worked with Banfield and PetSmart Charities. They do what they say they will do.

  28. 28.

    Mnemosyne

    @JPL:

    I wonder if the kids would be willing to auction or sell those toys instead and donate the resulting cash to the Red Cross or another organization. Either that, or find someone willing to store them for a few months until things settle down and local organizations have a way to distribute them.

  29. 29.

    JPL

    @Mnemosyne: There was a school last year, that had a large garage sale and raised money for another disaster. I can’t remember which one.

    Sooner, Thanks for the updates. Be safe.

  32. 32.

    TaMara (BHF)

    @raven: Never!!

    I agree on helping friends of Grunts. I thought that the other day, but being I was like the 175th person to comment, I let it go.

    And just a personal note, I was a Red Cross Disaster Relief volunteer for a couple of years and the work done on that level is pretty awesome. So I do cut them some slack when they screw up at the admin level…

  33. 33.

    raven

    @TaMara (BHF): I was just surprised that I posted comments about pet rescue and never got one comment yea or nay. We go bonkers here for pet blegs and this seems so much greater of a need.

Comments are closed.