Tornadoes strike again; veterinarians shaken
May 25, 2011
By: Jennifer Fiala
For The VIN News Service
[snip]
"In a post on the Veterinary Information Network, an online professional community, Dr. Ben Leavens gives a heart-wrenching account of what he and his family have endured and witnessed in Joplin, where he practices. Much of the area still is without electricity.
?Almost out of battery so will be brief,? Leavens writes to colleagues. ?Devastation here in Joplin is beyond imagination. Two of us are out of a clinic. It will be awhile before we can repair/rebuild. We lost our residence, which was in an apartment complex behind Wal-Mart where we were staying due to extensive flood damage three weeks ago. House is now flooding again.?
Upon noting that his wife and children have relocated while he stays behind to aid relief efforts, Leavens concludes his VIN post with: ?Central Joplin is an empty prairie, and for once I am not using hyperbole.?
On the Facebook page for Leavens? practice, it was announced that Main Street Pet Care closed today. The practice had been open earlier this week following Sunday?s storm.
Dr. Donald Loden?s practice was spared by the tornadoes in Joplin, though the breadth of the destruction has reduced him to tears. In an e-mail to the VIN News Service, he writes that pictures cannot convey the magnitude of the damage:
?My language skills are too small to describe the scene. You drive down the block and everything is normal then suddenly everything is rubble as far as the eye sees. You have difficulty believing a city was ever there.?
He?s amazed that 2,000 to 3,000 aren?t dead.
?It is only by the grace of God that the death toll is so low,? Loden adds. ?None of us know how this will effect us completely, yet.? "
