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| Joplin resident Stephanie Goad stands in what used to be her top story of the split-level home she shared with her husband, Dave, and two sons, Zach and Dylan. Dave and Stephanie were home at the time of the tornado struck, and took shelter in a downstairs bathroom. They emerged to find the top level of their home destroyed, along with nearly the rest of the homes in their neighborhood at 22nd Street and New Jersey Ave. |
Headline: Joplin tornado victim turns to Facebook while being trapped in home with husband
By Rick Rogers / American Consolidated Media News Service
JOPLIN, Mo. — Trapped underneath the rubble of their split-level home's top story, all Joplin residents Dave and Stephanie Goad could do was pray.
By Rick Rogers / American Consolidated Media News Service
JOPLIN, Mo. — Trapped underneath the rubble of their split-level home's top story, all Joplin residents Dave and Stephanie Goad could do was pray.
And turn to Facebook.
The Joplin couple rode the tornado out in the basement bathroom of their home on New Jersey Ave., between 20th and 22nd streets in the heart of Joplin and the EF5 tornado's destructive path Sunday.
They had just enough time to seek shelter before the storm hit. As they huddled in the bathroom and laundry area in the interior of the home, Stephanie said she could hear the hardwood floorboards on the top level being ripped to sheds. She said they could smell and taste the dirt and dust being toss around them by the tornado's 200-plus mile-per-hour winds.
After the tornado passed over their home and headed east, the Goads were trapped. They could not make a call go out on their cell phones. They began to wonder about the safety of their two sons, who were not home at the time. Their oldest son, Zachary, was working at Best Buy on the north edge of Joplin, while their youngest son Dylan was working at Twins Hills Country Club, on the western side of town.
They worried their sons could be hurt or injured, which they were not, and Dave and Stephanie wondered how long they might be trapped in their basement and if they could be found
The Joplin couple rode the tornado out in the basement bathroom of their home on New Jersey Ave., between 20th and 22nd streets in the heart of Joplin and the EF5 tornado's destructive path Sunday.
They had just enough time to seek shelter before the storm hit. As they huddled in the bathroom and laundry area in the interior of the home, Stephanie said she could hear the hardwood floorboards on the top level being ripped to sheds. She said they could smell and taste the dirt and dust being toss around them by the tornado's 200-plus mile-per-hour winds.
After the tornado passed over their home and headed east, the Goads were trapped. They could not make a call go out on their cell phones. They began to wonder about the safety of their two sons, who were not home at the time. Their oldest son, Zachary, was working at Best Buy on the north edge of Joplin, while their youngest son Dylan was working at Twins Hills Country Club, on the western side of town.
They worried their sons could be hurt or injured, which they were not, and Dave and Stephanie wondered how long they might be trapped in their basement and if they could be found
It was in that pile of debris that Stephanie feared the worst — that their sons would be forced to bury their parents.
Still not able to get a call to go through, Stephanie turned to her Facebook account on her Blackberry.
This is the message she posted at 6:11 p.m. Sunday, "Trapped in basement... Top of house gone... God help us!"
Still not able to get a call to go through, Stephanie turned to her Facebook account on her Blackberry.
This is the message she posted at 6:11 p.m. Sunday, "Trapped in basement... Top of house gone... God help us!"
Responses from friends on Facebook offering prayer and wondering how to help instantly started to post on her status update.
The Goads were able to get out of their basement, and when they emerged Stephanie took a photo with her Blackberry and posted it on Facebook a little after 8:30 p.m. to let everyone know they were OK.
"We came out of the basement, and I just started screaming," Stephanie said. "It is just an incredible sight. The smell of the devastation is what struck me. You could smell the mud and the wood."
Standing in what used to be her living room, Stephanie could see the twister's destructive path in every direction. Off in the distance to the west, she could see the heavily-damaged St. John's Regional Medical Center more than a mile away — before the view was obscured by homes, businesses and trees. She looked to the east and found nearly every home and structure suffered major damage. The tornado took 20th Street as a path west to east through the city, which according to estimates suffered extensive damage to more than 8,000 structures as of Wednesday. The storm's death toll rose to 126 as of Thursday.
Two houses to the north of the Goads' home was the foundation of a home — and that's all. The rest of the house was completely missing.
"If we would have been in that house, we would be dead," she said.
"We got in our basement and just prayed, that's all we could do," said Goad, who pulled a metal shelving unit near to help keep falling debris from crushing them. "I thought my kids would lose their parents. All I said was, 'God, take everything we own but just spare my family.' It seemed like it lasted forever. It seemed like five or six minutes. They said the tornado moved slower. It is just devastating."
On Wednesday afternoon, the Goad family tried to salvage what they could and take the items to a nearby family farm. They were able to find a wedding album, a few musical instruments and even a Crock-Pot that still had the stew Stephanie was making for dinner on Sunday night before the tornado hit.
"The whole exterior of our house is gone," Stephanie said.
Earlier this week, a team of Best Buy employees came to the Goads' home to help in the recovery effort to assist the family of one of their own. Red Cross volunteers drove by and offered food and beverages to the residents starting their clean-up effort. Stephanie said family and friends have stopped by the home throughout the day to offer support, money or just a shoulder to lean on.
She said the outpouring of love and support from friends and neighbors has been impressive. As a Red Cross volunteer, she is used to helping others, not receiving assistance, and that's "difficult for me to do."
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