All the Good Thoughts You Can Muster

I'm blogging about it because I'm not sure what else I can do.

A tornado hit Jay's campus tonight. A good portion of the dorms were destroyed. Eight students are currently trapped with crews trying to get them out. No fatalities or severe injuries so far, but another line of storms is on the way.

I'm trying to figure out who to call, how to help...The campus is closed to everyone but emergency crews so going there isn't an option. There's no way to get in touch with anyone in the area because the phone lines are down. I just want to say, "We have a warm, dry place and a hot meal for as many kids as you want to send," but there's no one to say it to!

So send good thoughts this way, please, for the students and for all the other folks who lost so much tonight.

Update: About 30 minutes after I posted this, the university president called into the local (rhymes with "yokel") television station and announced that faculty and staff were to come to campus and pick up students. Jay is there now and I'm frantically cleaning the house and preparing for an unknown number of cold, wet, and hungry students.

Other news is that there were no serious injuries on campus but there are several students still trapped inside a dorm. They are in constant contact with the crews working to free them. Classes are canceled until further notice. The university president reports that the damage is ten times worse than the damage sustained from a tornado in 2002, and estimates that the campus has sustained "millions and millions" of dollars worth of damage. Power is out indefinitely in the northern part of the county.

I still haven't been able to contact several friends who live in the area that sustained the most damage. Prayers, good thoughts, please.