Liveblogging the Tornadoes - Call For Help

Monkeyfister blogs from Memphis, TN, and he's been writing about the massive storms that hit the southeast Tuesday night:

LINK: "Bigassed tornado just 4-5 miles north of me. I HATE this shit. Sirens blaring constantly.

Very little scares me. THIS terrifies me.

UPDATE: 6:24PM. A tornado has touched down on top of the Hickory Ridge Mall in Northeast Memphis. Reports are saying the damage was VERY heavy. Plenty of people inside. Multiple injuries being reported."
[...]
"UPDATE 7:11PM-- Sears building hit with people inside. Debris from that hit spread miles away. A Sharp manufacturing plant was flattened. Reports of injuries. Every time a reporter gets to a scene, the newscaster asks, "Has Memphis Police or Firefighters set up any sort of Command Post anywhere?" The reports are always "NO,"
[...]
"UPDATE 7:30pm: A Taco Bell was flattened with people inside. Search is on for survivors. US Marshal's have been activated and are on the way to the area to assist.

The next wave of storms is producing baseball-sized hail, and tornadoes, and is about a 1/2 hour away.

He goes on to describe the next several harrowing hours then updates again in another post:

"I'll tell you right now, folks, that these storms were HUGE, and ferocious. I really do believe that when the SUPERDUPEROHMYGODLETSALLWETOURPANTSTOGETHER Tuesday Primaries hysteria calms down, and the sun rises in the morning, that these storms will sober the Political Pundits, and dampen the mood. Terrible. Wide-spread. Destruction."

He sends out a call for help after that. Any of you who can pass this information along through your blogs, listservs, mailing lists, etc. will be appreciated:

"Right now, I recommend the:

American Red Cross
Mid-South Chapter
1400 Central Avenue
Memphis, TN 38104
901-726-1690

And:
United Way of the Mid-South phone in a donation at (901) 433-4300.

They take DIRECT donations, so you can skip all the National-level waste and delay, AND they serve nearly every community in the effected radius.

I don't ask for much from my readers, but I sure would appreciate some link love on this post-- or better yet-- if you'd work-up something of your own linking to the Mid-South Red Cross Chapter to help this area get back on it's feet, re-building, and healing. It'd mean an awful lot to many. A bit of a small-blog swarm would be a mighty thing."

Here's video of the storm in Jackson, TN from a local blogger.
Here's FOX News Memphis affiliate TV News.
Here's video from Arkansas Online in Clinton, AK
Video 1 from Tuscaloosa News
Video 2 from Tuscaloosa News
News from Tuscaloosa News, Alabama

{crossposted from Scrutiny Hooligans}
{photo by Dan Lopez Tuscaloosa News}