I just got back from Chapman about 30 minutes ago...a couple had just purchased our old home and were moving in on Tuesday. 30 hours later the tornado hit and the house is still there, but the roof isn't.
The Methodist Church still has the big cross at the pulpit standing, but not much else around it.
The schools all took a tough hit. The band room at the middle school, the history classroom at the high school and the wrestling room all got hit hard...not to mention the entire 2nd floor of the Elementary School and the Auditorium at the High School.
I know that several people are asking for boxes and tape so they can start boxing up stuff and try to move it out of their houses to temporary storage.
Today they did announce that school is anticipated to start on time as scheduled for the fall term, but will be done in FEMA trailers more than likely at the beginning.
The devastation is hard to describe, however the spirit of Chapman is alive. Several houses had messages on them...2 of the most vivid: Room for Rent...Dirt Cheap (very badly damaged house) and of course my favorite was the F3 My Arse sign.
In closing I was informed that for every person that donates an hour of service of helping in Chapman, FEMA in return will donate $8 back per hour. I know right now the support is strong, but they still need help with some physical labor. If you have chainsaws I know they could use more of those, also any means of picking up trees and such would be great as well (manual or tractor and so on).
Thanks for all the prayers from the people from Chapman.
Swayz
