(St. Louis) State Of Emergency: Mayor Asks Gov. To Send In National Guard

[SaintLouisBlues]

http://www.ksdk.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=100574

(KSDK) - Speaking on NewsChannel 5 at Noon, St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay says he has asked Missouri Governor Matt Blunt to call in the National Guard and declare a "State of Emergency." Mayor Slay said he expects National Guard troops to begin arriving Thursday evening.

Storms tore through the St. Louis area Wednesday night, causing damage, accidents and power outages. The storms came from the northeast, heading in a southwest direction.

At one point during the storms, Ameren reported more than 500,000 people were without power throughout Missouri and Illinois. The company has restored service to more than 100,000. As of noon Thursday, Ameren says more than 490,000 people do not have electricity. 360,000 of them are in the St. Louis area. Power outages were reported as far north as the Iowa-Illinois border.

The company says given the nature of the damage, it cannot offer customers anticipated restoration times.

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I lost half my roof and a brick parapet wall. Water from the third floor workshop, through our second floor bedroom, into our first floor kitchen, then to the basement laundry room in our old city house.

But I have my power. Tarps are on the way, but so are more severe storms, maybe.

[grasswire]

1. wow, so sorry

Stay safe in that beautiful city with so many brick buildings.

[Jack from Charlotte]

19. Sorry. All National Guard troops are in Iraqnam. Can't come until....

Wars end projected to be sometime in the 2020's.

[babylonsister]

2. Oh my, I had no idea! Stay safe and keep us posted! nt

[cornermouse]

3. I heard about it this morning.

Strange stuff. Stay low and good luck.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Good luck, SaintLouisBlues. That storm didn't get as much coverage

as one would normally expect!

Have heard you've got a cool wave on your way Friday. The bad news is more rain, too.

Hope your emergency measures can do the job adequately.

[Bjornsdotter]

5. I'm so sorry

I couldn't believe it when I saw the pictures of St Louis.

Thank goodness you weren't hurt...stay safe. :hug:

Cheers

[Supersedeas]

6. yea, the 24hr news networks are against stuck in the shilling cycle

[Cerridwen]

7. Yikes!

Stay safe.

[redqueen]

8. so sorry to hear about your house

glad everyone's safe, though

[sandnsea]

9. holy crap!!

Those pictures are astounding, I can't believe the damage. Do you guys have phone service, I need to call my family.

Sorry about your house. I was there last year the day after that bad wind storm whipped through in August, but it was nothing like this one. Just YIKES!!! Stay safe!

[jayctravis]

10. I was in a Walmart, it was like a sign from god.

I stopped in there to get some cat food. Yes, Walmart is evil... I'm in the Metro East in Madison County which got hit pretty hard.

I was checking out and the cashier and I both notice what seems to be snow coming down in the building. It's a new supercenter they just built, and the wind was shaking tufts of the insulation down from the rafters.

Got ready to leave and as I reached the door with my cart, a huge gust of *cold* air was making people turn back. Carts were rolling past in the parking lot and one of the corrals where you put them when your done blew across the parking lot and hit a car. They had us go back into the middle of the store away from the walls and the lights went out.

We were there about 40 minutes with about 1000 people and emergency lighting and thunder and roaring. I was afraid it was going to be like the Poseidon Adventure. I didn't like being in the middle of the building and stayed at the corner near the door. At one point it was just solid gray through the glass and you couldn't see anything.

Over the walkie talkie we got news that two funnels had touched down. Once they let us leave there was still frighteningly close but spectacular lightning. Trees down *everywhere* that I had to drive around and the refinery close by looked like it was on fire...actually they often burn off excess in case of an accident and I think this is what was happening...when I drove by later it was all haze and *out* so I think the fire department shut it down. I heard the roof was ripped off the car dealership adjacent to the building I was in, also in different parts of the area there were more roofs torn off. Everybody lost power except where my cousin lives - they almost lost a trampoline and their neighbors metal shed lifted up and crashed down about two feet from where it was. My parents live east and their power came back about midnight, we're supposed to be without it for 3-5 days they say.

[jayctravis]

11. One good thing...I have heard absolutely *nothing* about

casualties...although I heard sirens all night. It didn't seem like the storm directly caused any deaths, but I'm betting a lot of people went and will go to the hospital with heat-related stress or who are on some type of support that requires electricity.

[VegasWolf]

12. Wow, to think that one could die in a WalMart. No chance for an

afterlife by dying there.

[jayctravis]

13. Yeah...I know. That went through my head. (n/t)

[OzarkDem]

18. Wow, is everyone ok?

I grew up in the area and I can't recall any storm that bad. Its going to be a huge mess.

[theHandpuppet]

14. Is there any way we can help?

If so, please let us know, okay?

[SaintLouisBlues]

15. Thanks to all for the good words

The tarps are up and the forecast looks less ominous. I'm lucky I was only out of power for 7 hours, so the AC is cranking and we didn't lose much from the ice box.

[The Anti-Neo Con]

16. They interviewed a Katrina survivor on the St. Louis news...

who relocated to St. Louis. They said that it was almost as bad as Katrina was minus the flooding.

[OzarkDem]

17. Take care

Hope it gets fixed soon. Lovely old homes in the city there, which area are you in?

Wow, that's a strange direction for a storm to move.

[SaintLouisBlues]

21. Lafayette Square for twenty years now

The last time we has a storm approaching the severity of this one was about 7 or 8 years ago, and it also come from the north. Weird.

[Peace Patriot]

20. Stay safe. Don't risk life for things. Things blow away. Life is all.

I was in the Loma-Prietta earthquake in Los Angeles in the early '70s, and it changed me. I determined to go to Europe, which I'd never been to. It took me a year of relentless effort. I formed a group from the h.s. students I was teaching, and with my hubby, who was also a teacher, took a wonderful study tour through Scandinavia, England and into Russia, to St. Petersburg. We were one of the first tourist groups into Russia after the big thaw, and were treated like royalty. We studied Dostoevsky in St. Petersburg. The Scandinavian countries were a revelation, really life changing--especially Norway. And their literature is fabulous--Ibsen, Sigrid Undset, Knut Hamsen, Hans Christian Andersen. What I realized is that a country can organize itself for the benefit of its people--without the deprivation we saw in Russia. In Norway, tobacco and alcohol revenues all went to the arts. Oil revenues all went to social programs, and some to preventing "gold rush" impacts. Beautiful countries, well cared for. Norway spectacular.

Anyway, that movement of the Earth moved something in ME. A deep psychic shift.

So, go with the flow, too. Be safe, but let Nature speak to you. She's obviously in a mood, and needs listeners.