EF4 Tornado Hits St. Louis

Friday night, April 22nd, Good Friday, St. Louis was hit by an E4 Tornado. Lambert Airport and surrounding areas suffered the most damage.
Tornados are graded on the Fujita scale from 1 to 5. They are measured by how much they "eat" aka destroy. The higher the number, the greater the damage. This link gives you an idea of how they grade each number.
St. Louis suffered incredible damage; houses were leveled, Lambert international had a roof taken off, windows blown in, and a teriminal flooded. Debris littered the halls of Busch Stadium. The pictures of the damage I have seen are enough to break my heart. Miracuously though, there were no fatalities. All that damage and not one life lost. God was truely watching over St. Louis Friday night. Even those of you who do not believe in God, you have to admit there was something greater watching over us. I was fortuate in that all of my friends and family are safe and unharmed by the storm. Others were not as fortunate.
President Obama has promised Federal Aid to the victims. This and insurance will help. Let me repeat HELP... but not solve all the problems. It takes a long time for insurance claims to be processed. It will take time for the Federal money to arrive and be properly distributed. In the meantime, people will have to rely on the strength and love of their friends and family. The generosity of strangers will also be a booon to them. Those with Tornado insurance will have advantages of being able to rebuild faster, the insurance will provide them with money to get a hotel, get food and clothes. This will HELP, not solve. And it will take time for insurance to get the money to its customers, and while they are waiting they will have to use precious funds for the basic necessities just to survive. I am not saying all this to be cold or rude, nor am I minimizing the situation, as it has been suggested to me. There are some amazing people out there who have already stepped forward and are helping the vicitms. A friend of mine is reaching out to her facebook community and asking for small donations to help a friend of hers who lost her house. She is not asking for a lot, just small things; gift certificates for food and clothes, and donations of diapers. It may seem small but in the long run it is a lot. Remember that the tiniest ripple in the pond can produce the largest waves. Translation: even the smallest acts of kindness can make the biggest difference. KMOV asked for stories of people doing good for a special segment on Monday, so I submitted what my friend is doing. The news needs to highlight more stories like this more often. I am impressed and awed by what people are doing to help out. There are truely some amazing people in St. Louis. For those of you who want to help, click here for ideas.