Cleaning up the damage

As y'all recall, parts of the St. Louis area got hit hardcore by a tornado back on Good Friday. Now, miraculously, no one here was killed, unlike the poor folks down South. Nevertheless, the tornado left a LOT of damage behind.

My employer partnered with a local disaster relief group yesterday to offer our assistance with cleanup. They asked for volunteers and I was quick to offer my services. This was no day in the park, I can tell you that much. There were hundreds of volunteers, about 10-12 from my office. We all met at a local church, then were driven in a shuttle bus to our work site. Then dropped off and left to fend for ourselves. Seriously. We worked in one of the Bridgeton neighborhoods (near the airport) that was one of the hardest hit. Shock overcame us as we took stock of the damage. It is truly, TRULY a miracle that no one was killed. So, what did we do? A LOT of manual labor. Cleaning up all the fallen trees from people's yards, scooping up roofing shingles and drywall from crumbled roofs and walls. Cleaning up insulation from the now exposed walls. Throwing away broken items, throwing away boards from broken down decks. We even found someone's pet hamster that had apparently been living outside for the last two weeks (I don't think he was happy to be found as he bit the man that picked him up). We formed a line of probably 100 people to pass along the tree branches, logs, etc while someone kept up the chainsawing. I was hoping to get my hands on a chainsaw, but it was not to be. We DID however, get a wheelbarrow and some shovels so, that was cool. I took a couple of pics to share, these pics don't even begin to show you the true amount of damage. Yesterday is a day I'll never forget. While the work was hard and tiring (I was in bed by 8:30 last night), I am SO glad I did it and would do it again. It was a beautiful thing to see so many people gather together to help total strangers. What was even more amazing was, at one point in the afternoon, a bunch of us looked up at the sky and saw the strangest thing-a rainbow completely circling the sun. I have never seen anything like it, have you? At the risk of sounding too cheezy, it was almost as if God was saying "thanks" and letting us know that everything was going to be ok. Anyway, here are the pics:

Yes, that wall is leaning.

the house with the leaning wall no longer has a roof.....

just some of the damage. We filled SEVERAL of those giant dumpsters

this was in the shuttle bus...me and  my co-worker Brittny. The company we volunteered for provided t-shirts and gloves. The two of us were the only people to choose the pretty flowered gloves.....cute, huh?