This afternoon, I saw in the blogs on Weather Underground that there were a number of tornadoes in Indiana yesterday, including one that destroyed a Starbucks about 2 1/4 miles (as the crow flies) from AndyMark. I see that Billfred is still doing moderator functions, and posted a perfectly normal thread earlier this evening. As such, I optimistically assume that no AM employees were harmed in this bout of tornadoes. Were any FRC teams or team members displaced, and if so, what can we do to help?
I know that Andymark the building is safe and everything there is work as usual once the power came back on. As far as I know of, Jon will confirm I am sure, everyone’s house is alright and they are fine. I can’t speak on behalf of all the teams (Panther Tech and Cybertooth) in the area, but I know no one (that I am away of) on the TechnoKats was displaced. I know one of our mentors had property and car damage from wind but not a direct hit. Everyone here is physically OK. A significant portion of Howard county is still without power but Duke Energy is working around the clock to get power back to effected areas. I don’t know of any funds to go directly to teams but I do know of many funds set to help everyone in our community. The United Way and Red Cross have been a huge help deploying and mobilizing volunteers also providing shelters and meals to effected families.
http://unitedwayhoco.org/community/give
If anyone wants to come down to Kokomo to help with the clean up effort, go to this website http://unitedwayhoco.org/community/volunteer-kokomostrong and register your group and they will email you with information on where to go. They want to make sure people are going where help is needed while not getting in the way.
I appreciate you for bringing this is up to the realms of Chief Delphi and appreciate any help you guys can offer.
The press in Kokomo released that there were no deaths and 10-15 minor injuries due to the tornado. I don’t know anthing about AndyMark’s situation but that’s a start.
Full story of tornadoes here.
As RJ said, we managed to get lucky at AndyMark, the building survived in tact even though many storms passed us, both to the north and south. The strongest was the first one, which took out the Starbucks and many homes in town. There is still a lot of damage and the town is recovering. I know many of thousands are without power still, but thanks to so many for helping restore it.
Unfortunately some AM employees live in the area affected by the tornadoes, and there were multiple. This one also took a path very similar to one a few years ago. They have lots of property damage, but no one, nor family, nor pets, were injured from what I have been told. Thank you everyone for your concerns, and if you’re looking to help, definitely follow up with the links in RJ’s post.
I know as of this morning there were approximately 150 people still in the shelter established for storm support, and I’m sure others still who are with friends and relatives.
While Kokomo seems to have been hit hardest in this storm, the Indianapolis area was also affected, so please keep them in your thoughts as well.
I just wanted to throw in here the resilience of folks from Indiana. Tonight the Kokomo and Hamilton Heights football teams were scheduled to play in Lucas Oil Stadium (where the Indianapolis Colts play - a pretty big deal); the game has been rescheduled. Players and coaches from both teams will instead work in Kokomo, helping out the community in any way they can.
I know of two separate benefit concerts - one from comedian Donnie Baker and friends, another from Colts punter (and self-proclaimed comedian) Pat McAfee and friends. It’s inspiring to see the communities come together to help others in need, as Gus and others from across the country have done as well.