Glass Company Helps Community Rebuild After Tornado

Sixty-six tornadoes wreaked havoc on the United States this weekend, resulting in at least 21 deaths and pushing the season's fatality total to 97 deaths (the most since the 1998 tornado season). The storms also have left glass shops scrambling to get all the repairs done.

In one of the hardest hit towns, Neosho, Mo., residents are still grappling with the enormity of the destruction.

According to glazier Jamie Hatfield of C-V Glass, the town has lost 76 homes in the storm. “It’s been bad,” he explains. “People have lost everything they own.”

As Hatfield spoke to USGNN.com, he indicated that there were approximately 50-60 windshields scattered around his business, as the company will focus its energies this week replacing automobile glass before moving on to residential repairs next week.

“It’s as bad as I’ve ever seen it in 35 years,” Hatfield says, as two more windowless cars pulled up to his establishment.

At least 800 tornadoes have been reported or observed since March, the start of the tornado season. While the most violent storms hit Missouri, Oklahoma and Georgia, the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic also were hammered with heavy rains.

The National Weather Service estimates that at least eight tornadoes were spawned in Oklahoma along six storm tracks. One severe tornado touched down in the Missouri’s southwest corner about 6 p.m. Saturday and cut a path of destruction nearly a mile wide at some points.

The tornadoes have left dozens injured and thousands without power. Clean up, as well as search and rescue, continues, with officials worried that the death toll may continue to rise.

CLICK HERE for a related article on the storms.

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