Posted on 05/26/2011 10:05:22 AM PDT by smokingfrog
When Cameron Paul, a Walmart employee in Joplin, Mo., was growing up, he and his father would go storm-chasing. From what seemed to be a safe distance, Mr. Paul’s father, a freelance photographer, would shoot pictures of funnel clouds. In southwest Missouri, there were plenty to keep them busy.
“When other people might have fire drills, we’d have tornado drills,” Mr. Paul said. Many residents had storm shelters in their yards, and tornado warnings happened so often, “it was almost like crying wolf,” he said.
None of that prepared him for Sunday evening, when Mr. Paul, 19 years old, was working as a customer-service manager at a Walmart Supercenter in Joplin. The employees knew a storm was coming and herded customers to the back of the store, as they’d been trained. Mr. Paul and a co-worker stayed in front, hurrying more people inside from the parking lot. Some said they lived in mobile homes and came to Walmart to seek shelter.
Shortly before the tornado hit, one woman left the building because she wanted to buy groceries and was told she couldn’t until the storm passed. Mr. Paul doesn’t know what happened to her. Some people who waited in their cars in the parking lot didn’t survive.
He stayed by the store entrance until the pressure of the approaching tornado sucked the doors off the building. He and his co-worker ran to the back of the store and dove into the electronics department, where about 30 people huddled. Throughout the giant store, which stretches from 15th to 20th Streets along Range Line Road, somewhere between 100 and 200 people were trying to ride out the storm.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.wsj.com ...
Poor foolish woman...could have cost her her life...
Awesome story.
But where’s the part about the looters coming in and taking away the Heineken and other goodies?
Maybe Joplin is not chocolate enough
OMG! That young man witnessed in a few minutes what most people will not experience their entire lives and remained alert and calm throughout. He deserves some kind of reward because I’m sure that he saved lives that day.
About the only thing coming out of Joplin is scrappers...
I stopped him and said, "Sir, don't go out in that. Please stay here and get to shelter in the back of the store."
He just kept moving, saying "I have to get out of here. I have to get home."
That was the night that Lambert International Airport got hit and parts of Bridgeton were devastated by a tornado.
As for why I didn't stop him, I can't. We can't stop ppl from leaving if they are adamant, all we can do is try to get them to see reason.
Luckily, we were not in the tornado's path but I still say to myself when I think of this, "What a dumbass. To risk your childs life in that situation."
A chilling and uplifting tale!
Makes me wonder how I would hold up under similar circumstances...
Amazing story
All while Zero drinks $1,000 wine. But he’ll be there on Sunday!
An outstanding young American, with selfless courage, intelligence and initiative rises up to the occasion. Thank God for kids like this one; there are many more like him out there, regardless of what some older Freepers think. :)
Thanks for posting!
How heart-breaking it must be...
I hear what you’re saying.
Agreed. What an amazing young man!
Being in the Walmart did not save everyone, part of the building landed on a family and killed them. Maybe the guy you talk about lived close by and had a better shelter.
And on that note, perhaps execs at Wal-Mart (and other large stores) should be thinking about a different survival model...
Perhaps using the small, enclosed, specialty shops at the front of the store for protection...
I dunno, ought to be something...
Some chocolates are worse than others.
<A doctor with a hacksaw performed emergency amputations.
You know things are bad, but you don’t think of such things as this. God help the people of Joplin.
I re-read my post and saw I didn’t name the store I work at . .. I work at Lowe’s. While everyone else was running the back of the store (which has small compartmentalized rooms made from cinder block) he ran out into the weather. Altho I agree, its a crap shoot.
Don't. Nearly everybody who is confronted by a real emergency does what they need to do to save themselves and others.
It's called adrenaline.
At the first flush, everything slows down to a crawl -- events become slow-motion, seen in great detail, and on a wide-screen. Instinct takes over, relevant things you once learned -- and had forgotten -- become second nature. Like first aid and standard safety precautions concerning fire, explosion and the like.
You're on auto-pilot -- at a remove. It's almost like watching yourself on TV. You're body is reacting instinctively, your mind has already gone on to the next problem.
And, after it's all over with, you are absolutely, totally and completely exhausted.
You would think that all stores and public buildings in tornado prone areas would first dig storm cellars before pouring the slab floors. Many homes in those areas seem not to have cellars. I hope everyone decides to dig storm cellars both in their homes and in public places. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
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