But here’s a taste of the general mood in Morgan County:

[F]ew in this town of 3,400 residents, including Rupe, have any illusions about the years of work ahead, from rebuilding homes and business to replanting hillsides. And some worry whether West Liberty will ever truly recover.

-SNIP-

“People are working really hard. They’ve done a lot,” she said. “But it’s heartbreaking. This town ain’t going to be the same.”

-SNIP-

Lisa Peters, who works in a pharmacy, gripped a handful of papers and went from table to table, trying to find a way to replace a lost home that’s been in the family for three generations. Although it was paid for, it was also uninsured.

-SNIP-

“I’d say in my lifetime, I’ll never see the town like it was.”

That’s also a concern downtown along the old Main Street’s businesses — which included florists, antique and curio shops — many family-owned, paid off long ago and underinsured but barely turning a profit. As a result, some worry about their ability to pay back even a low-interest disaster loan.

-SNIP-

“We have a real opportunity to make West Liberty even better,” Conley said. “This isn’t a short-term fix. It’s just not.”

That sad mood is 100% warranted.

Turns out the tornado disaster wasn’t the wake-up call Eastern Kentucky needed.

It’s not just unrest that has many local residents up in arms. But people are slowly leaving, never to return.

• Bath County: 47 Cedar Creek, P.O. Box 7, Owingsville, Ky. 40360. Phone: (606) 674-6344
• Campbell County: Watertower Square, Fourth Floor, 601 Washington Ave. Newport, Ky. 41071. Phone: (859) 292-6700
• Carroll County: 1720 Highland Ave., P.O. Box 368, Carrollton, Ky. 41008. Phone: (502) 732-4271
• Grant County: 120 N. Main St. Williamstown, Ky. 41097. Phone: (859) 824-5202
• Grayson County: 100 McCubbin Blvd., P.O. Box 4280, Leitchfield, Ky. 42755. Phone: (270) 259-4041
• Johnson County: 205 Main St., Suite 1, Paintsville, Ky. 41240. Phone: (606) 788-7118
• Kenton County: 20 E. Seventh St., 3rd Floor, Covington, Ky. 41011. Phone: (859) 292-6600
• Laurel County: 31 South Laurel Road, London, Ky. 40744. Phone: (606) 330-2025
• Larue County: 105 Howard St., Hodgenville, Ky. 42748-0169. Phone: (270) 358-3176
• Lawrence County: 180 Bulldog Lane, Suite 1, Louisa, Ky. 41230. Phone: (606) 638-4526
• Magoffin County: 125 S. Church St., Salyersville, Ky. 41465. Phone: (606) 349-6131
• Martin County: 104 E. Main St., Suite 200, P.O. Box 408, Inez, Ky. 41224. Phone: (606) 298-3577
• Menifee County: 784A Hwy. 36, P.O. Box 50, Frenchburg, Ky. 40322. Phone: (606) 768-2118
• Montgomery County: 108 E. Locust St., P.O. Box 219, Mount Sterling, Ky. 40353. Phone: (859) 498-5398
• Morgan County: 87 Redwine Road (Former Wrigley Elementary), West Liberty, Ky. 41472. Phone: (606) 495-8588 or (606) 495-8590.
• Ohio County: 947 W. 7th St., Beaver Dam, Ky. 42320. Phone: (270) 274-8201
• Pendleton County: 500 Market St., Falmouth, Ky. 41040. Phone: (859) 654-6123
• Rowan County: 511 Hecks Plaza Dr., P.O. Box 886, Morehead, Ky. 40351. Phone: (606) 783-8535
• Russell County: 100 S. Main St., Bates Bldg. P.O. Box 770, Jamestown, Ky. 42629-0770. Phone: (270) 343-3196
• Trimble County: 37 Alexander Ave., Bedford Professional Building, Bedford, Ky. 40006. Phone: (502) 255-3278
• Wolfe County: 330 Main St., Campton, Ky. 41301. Phone: (606) 668-3175

Disasters are out of your hands. You don’t have control. If you need to feed your family, go for temporary assistance.

You’ll need to take the following with you: proper personal identification, verification of residency. If you can, you’ll also need proof of Social Security numbers for all members of your household, take home pay and income received during the month of March, information about any savings and checking accounts you have and statements verifying disaster-related expenses.

But there were some interesting tidbits buried at the bottom of the latest press release promoting the amazing, award-winning hard work of Beshear’s latest visit.

To date:

• Approximately $5.6 million has been approved for housing assistance, including short-term rental assistance and home repair costs.
• Approximately 850 households have received FEMA grants to help pay for temporary housing.
• More than 2,200 homes sustained damages. Of those, more than 650 were destroyed.
• Approximately $911,000 has been approved to cover other essential disaster-related needs, such as medical and dental expenses and lost personal possessions.
• More than 1,950 inspections of damaged properties have been conducted.
• Nine disaster recovery centers are open.
• More than 1,225 visits have been made to disaster recovery centers by affected people.

Kind of alarming to read those statistics. Even if you’re already familiar with them.

So use this as a reminder to GIVE TO THE RED CROSS. Right now. Because you probably haven’t already done so.

A chilling reminder of the horror of it all came into my office. That we must use this tragedy to now demand better access to emergency information for our visually impaired and our deaf and hard of hearing citizens was driven home just yesterday. Reps from the Blind Veterans Association, Independence Place (in Lexington) and others met with me and revealed they have lost members in Eastern Kentucky to the tornado. Citizens who could not see, or who could not hear died in the tornado and it is haunting to now speculate whether they ever saw or heard reports of their pending doom I pray the Governor, the appropriate Cabinet Secretaries and others with access to means of communicating with these differently abled populations will come together and do what is necessary to ensure blind and deaf citizens have access to emergency information. Information, thanks to the media, we take for granted.

Frankfort needs to act on this.

Keep in mind that this looks about 100 times better than it did Friday night. If that’s possible.

And she didn’t even hit the worst parts of town.

Nightmare.

Give to the Red Cross.

He tweeted like a 12-year-old girl, acting as if he’d never seen anything outside the Golden Triangle. He spent five minutes on the ground – not even two feet from the car he rode in from the chopper – taking pictures like this one:

CLICK TO ENLARGE

See the disdain on John Will Stacy’s face?

It got worse when Damon acted like this in Northern Kentucky:

And to Steve Beshear’s staff who keep contacting me to try to save face? Don’t bother until you work for someone else. Never had to cut ties with personal friends before but enough is enough. You should all be ashamed to be working for him just to get your retirement and draw a paycheck. He only partially redeemed himself by asking for a federal disaster declaration.

Thank goodness for Mitch McConnell (read that again, folks) for showing up and getting things done.

Give to the Red Cross to help my hometown of West Liberty.

If that’s not enough, watch this CBS News report and then give to the Red Cross to help my hometown of West Liberty.

Still not enough? Watch these 90 seconds of aerial footage:

Then give to the Red Cross.

And this video, shot by a friend on Court Street just before it ripped everything to shreds:

You’ve seen the baseball-sized hail from the storms and read our coverage and requests to give back.

Please do so.

All that not enough? Look at these photos we published yesterday.

I’ve been back three times since it hit with trucks and supplies and still feel the same. You begin to get better once you see it and experience it for yourself – once the shock sets in. But you’re never able to rationalize it. The experience gives you a renewed appreciation for life and all that you have seen and loved. All you can do is give what you have and press others to do the same.

Thanks to Senator McConnell for showing up yesterday and doing more than taking a few photos. Appreciated by all – especially me.

Jake

More than $410,000 in state property issued to the Department of Agriculture remains unaccounted for or missing about two months after auditors launched a sweeping review of the agency. Richie Farmer faces a battle or two, it seems. [State-Journal]

There’s a rally in Frankfort on Thursday to support the restoration of voting rights for felons. [Press Release]

Take a look at West Liberty from the air. You’ll know why your support is sorely needed. [H-L]

Please donate through the Red Cross or volunteer via Kentucky Emergency Management. [Click Here]

During the mess of tornado outbreaks this weekend, a coal miner in Eastern Kentucky was killed by a falling canopy while trying to install it atop a mine shuttle car. 32-year-old James Bailey of Loyall died at the Timer Tree Mine near the BLair community on Saturday at roughly 1:30 A.M. [Press Release]

It’s been loosely crazy to watch this Jamilah Fraser-Jefferson County Public Schools story play out. [Toni Konz]

Proud to report the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels committed $20,000 to the Red Cross & Salvation Army for relief efforts. [Press Release]

Take a look at the before and after photographs of the devastation in West Liberty. It’s alarming. [TWC]

Greg Stumbo and the Kentucky Medical Association continue to fight. Folks should keep their eye on him during relief efforts because he’s known to try to pull shenanigans when he thinks no one is looking. [House Dems]

Speaking of Greg, here’s what he’s tried to pull with redistricting and here’s what the mainstream thinks of it. [C-J/AKN]

No matter how many times you read stories about the lengths that have been taken to clean up after deadly tornadoes, it’s still bizarre. [H-L]

Ron Paul now has a thing for Andy Candy Barr to copy. He should do this thing ASAP. Really, a Ron Paul candy bar? [Wonkette]

It’s Monday and people are still unable to communicate in West Liberty. This is why Eastern Kentucky is in dire need of a real, functioning telecommunications system. [WKYT]

Also – call your state legislator and urge them to begin pushing a sustainable recovery policy in Kentucky.

Now some photos.

This church is no more:

This one is gone, as well:

The front of this home is still standing but the back is gone:

A look at the disappearance of everything on Prestonsburg Street:

14 more photos of the devastation after the jump…

Morgan County Board of Education:

Not even the cemetery was spared:

It’s blurry but that’s how everyone feels – coroners from all over the Commonwealth showed up:

This was West Liberty:

Freezer Fresh:

Everything is gone:

Rafters from another building pierced the walls of neighboring properties:

No wonder there’s no power, no telecommunications access:

See? Everything was obliterated:

This was once a town:

Not much remains:

Searching:

This is steel:

One of the only buildings partially standing is the old WPA-built school/community center/government building:

Now you know why you’re needed.

Aerial view:

CLICK TO ENLARGE

Some of the rare few homes left standing:

CLICK TO ENLARGE

The common view of most everything:

CLICK TO ENLARGE

Morgan County’s historic court house:

CLICK TO ENLARGE

And that’s just the beginning.

Many have asked me what they can do to support relief and recovery efforts in West Liberty.

Here’s how: use the money you’re going to spend on coffee this week to give to the Red Cross.

Whether it’s $5 or $25 per week, give that money to help. If you can afford to read this, you can afford to take me up on it.

What you won’t read about in the mainstream, as they didn’t have access and were afraid to join me this morning as I visited family and friends to survey damages and pay condolences to our deceased loved ones? Is that it’s not just a few roofs ripped off. Telecommunications infrastructure is dead at the moment. There are maybe two buildings in town that are structurally sound. The rest are gone or just a few walls remain. Funeral homes are gone. Most pharmacies and stores are gone. Gas stations demolished. Flooding is separating part of the town. The hospital was severely damaged. Schools damaged.

Outside of town proper? Tons of damage. People are conducting searches on horseback because many areas are still impassable.

I still have family and friends who are unaccounted for.

I’ve done my part and now I’m asking you to do the same. You know Frankfort isn’t competent enough to handle this so you’re going to need to support organizations that can. If you have a dollar, DONATE IT HERE. You don’t have to like me. You may even be one of the many people who went so far as to try defaming me last year. But the least you can do is support your fellow Kentuckians who have never needed you more than they do at this moment.

Jake