While authorities continue to assess the damage from the deadly storms in Missouri, cleanup volunteers have already been mobilized in the Show Me State.
Shortly before midnight Wednesday, a large and destructive twister moved over Jefferson City, the capital of Missouri. The tornado cut a path about three miles long and a mile wide from the south end of the city north toward the Missouri River, leaving behind about two dozen injuries – but no reported deaths or missing people in the capital of about 40,000 people. The area is now being threatened with flash floods. (See latest update from The Associated Press)
Gaylon Moss, the state director for Missouri Baptist Disaster Relief, has been busy assessing the tornado damage in Jefferson City. "There is significant damage to a number of properties, [both] commercial and residential," he shares with OneNewsNow. "Roofs being blown off, internal sections of a home or business being exposed to the elements, large trees down."
But Moss points out it wasn't just the capital city that was affected. "This particular storm system entered in the southwest corner [of Missouri] just west of Joplin, and it tracked practically the entire state," he describes. "So it was a long-lived event for sure."
Disaster relief volunteers responded quickly. "We have opened up an operation in Carl Junction [just north of Joplin] to assist homeowners there with damages," he shares, "and then, of course, in Jefferson City we've opened up a site to use volunteers to help people affected by the disaster – [helping them in] cleaning up their homes."
Moss asks for prayer for those affected by the tornados. "And please pray for the volunteers that will minister to them and be a light in the darkness during this difficult time," he adds.
Samaritan's Purse is headed to the Jefferson City area as well. "Please keep our teams in your prayers as they come alongside these communities and remind them of the hope that is in Jesus Christ," says ministry president Franklin Graham.
