Crazy Storms (Kansas City, Houston: costs, moving, residency)

[thmitch79]

Our daughter lives in St. Ann and she had a tree come down in her yard as well. I hope the injured will recover and there was no fatalities.
BTW, not to take away from the OP, but what is the "China Hub"?

[flynavyj]

China Hub = an airport deal between St. Louis and China which will utilize St. Louis as a cargo hub and a major entryway to the US for Chinese made goods. The deal has been being worked on for quite a while now, and seems as though it was nearing finalization...There were other cities in consideration as well.

As to the storm, the video coming out of Bridgeton is crazy. My wife and I are in St. Ann and didn't receive any damage (a neighbor's tree fell a few days ago, but we knew it was coming down before it fell), but literally no wind or damage near us. Just seeing Ferguson on the tv now, and it looks like they had the same type of devastation that Bridgeton/Maryland Heights got. I also heard speculation for it being an EF3 or EF4, with a track the width of a football field.

[maseyjean]

We were just riding east in I-70; traffic was moving EXTREMELY slow because you can see the damage from the highway and everyone was trying to take a peek. This was my first time ever seeing up close what damage a tornado can do. It's pretty bad. I haven't heard about any serious injuries which is great news. I wish the best for everyone that was affected.

[lifelongMOgal]

Originally Posted by flynavyj

China Hub = an airport deal between St. Louis and China which will utilize St. Louis as a cargo hub and a major entryway to the US for Chinese made goods. The deal has been being worked on for quite a while now, and seems as though it was nearing finalization...There were other cities in consideration as well.

As to the storm, the video coming out of Bridgeton is crazy. My wife and I are in St. Ann and didn't receive any damage (a neighbor's tree fell a few days ago, but we knew it was coming down before it fell), but literally no wind or damage near us. Just seeing Ferguson on the tv now, and it looks like they had the same type of devastation that Bridgeton/Maryland Heights got. I also heard speculation for it being an EF3 or EF4, with a track the width of a football field.

Updated story & phots on CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/04/23/mis...ex.html?hpt=T2

Width of a football field is pretty narrow track for a tornado. Probably spared many lives.

Are the St. Louis Red Cross branches or other rescue/relief organizations requesting specific needs in the result of last nights storms?

[flynavyj]

think the Red Cross was suggesting volunteers to help in the cleanup. And i think United Way was taking donations on Channel 4 earlier today.

[moorlander]

This event has absolutely ZERO effect on the China/International trade hub negotiations. Worse case scenario, we'll get some federal money/insurance money to make the repairs and continue the recently begun renovations to Terminal 1. See Lambert Experience Project.

The hub deal is not just an entry for Chinese goods but an exit point for goods from all over the midwest. Think perishable good like beef, pork, pharmaceuticals, and other agribusiness products. Those planes will not fly back empty.

[brewcrew1000]

For some reason i can see this as helping lambert and help by mean paying off it's white elephant runway 11/29. I'm sure St Louis will be receiving insurance money and some kind of federal funding for this event, wonder if they can use the leftovers to help pay down some of that debt

[flynavyj]

Robbing from Peter to pay Paul...Nothing like borrowing federal money that in itself is borrowed in order to pay off a debt. lol. Looks like damage while visually significant isn't nearly as "catastrophic" as it was initially believed to be. The other major help is that Lambert airport is so low on usage vs capacity you could honestly demo 2 terminals and once operations were setup continue business in the other two, the infrastructure is there but the operations simply aren't.

When i was still flying, my small airline (Trans States) was the largest operator out of Lambert Airport, followed secondly by Southwest Airlines...That's changed now that American (our old codeshare partner) has removed much of it's "hub" from St. Louis, but gone are the days when you could catch a direct flight to Tokyo or Paris out of the Lambert St. Louis International Airport.

[aragx6]

^That is the single biggest bummer about the troubles of the major airlines. My friend was looking for flights to Houston (she's moving there to start her residency program) and couldn't find any direct. Not Tokyo, but Houston.

Though, at least there's a silver lining: it could be always be worse. I feel like I can't get anywhere nonstop out of Kansas City. STL still has more direct flights to places people actually want to go than KCI and is a cheaper flight or shorter drive/train ride to Chicago. Sure, for a weekend trip it wouldn't be worth it, but if you were going overseas, you might well find a better deal flying direct out of O'Hare.

[billiken]

FYI, you can fly direct to Houston on United/Continental. I actually don't totally mind connections--it's pretty much the only way we keep status on our preferred airline (segments, not miles).