Clara Ellis counted her blessings twice Sunday evening after both of her children narrowly escaped injury or worse in the Joplin tornado.
Ellis told the Register in a telephone interview from her Iola home that daughter, Natasha Ellis, was in the top floor of St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Joplin, which took a direct hit from the massive twister.
Natasha had been visiting a brother-in-law, Cory Connes, in the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit. Connes had collapsed the night before and had just awakened from a coma prior to the storm, Clara said.
“She said that as soon as she heard the storm sirens, the windows started breaking,” Clara said.
Natasha ducked inside a hallway and was not struck by the flying glass or debris as the tornado roared past.
Meanwhile, Clara’s son, Brendan, had been invited by a friend to eat dinner at a steakhouse in downtown Joplin.
“He couldn’t go because he had been called into work,” Clara said.
The friend was killed, trapped in his vehicle, as the tornado tore a six-mile swath through Joplin.
“Had Brendan not been at work, he would have been with him,” Clara said, her voice breaking.
Both Brendan and Clara live in Neosho, Mo.
SIX IOLA firefighters and ambulance personnel, Ron Ballard, Ryan Sell, Kenneth Powell, Jeremy Ellington, Corey Isbell and Gary Kimball were dispatched to Joplin to assist with search and rescue efforts within hours of the storm.
Those are among local emergency workers skilled in rescue efforts, Fire Chief Donald Leapheart said. They returned to Iola Monday afternoon.
With those six out of town, the Fire Department was shorthanded Monday morning as two other officers, Tim Thyer and Trevor Shannon, were dispatched to the scene of a train derailment south of Moran. The Fire Department also serves as the county’s Hazardous Materials Response Team.
Members of the Allen County Emergency Medical Service provided ambulance service within Iola’s city limits while the IFD personnel were at the train wreck scene.
THRIVE ALLEN County has set up a collection point for area residents to donate to the Joplin disaster relief efforts.
Thrive officials are seeking such things as baby food and formula, bottled water, feminine hygiene products, diapers, diaper wipes, toiletries, clean clothes and clean blankets.
Items can be taken to the Thrive office at 12 W. Jackson Ave.
Organizers also are looking for volunteers, using pickups, vans or other trucks, to transport the donated goods to Joplin this week.
Community Living Opportunities, 201 West St., also is collecting first aid supplies, personal items and clothing for the Joplin victims.
Those items can be donated from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily.
