St. Louis Looters Robbing New Years Eve Tornado Victims

The stories after a natural disaster are usually heart warming. Neighbor helping neighbor get back on their feet and restore their lives after weather attempts to destroy what they have worked hard for. Occasionally, we have to deal with the idiots in life like in Katrina, or in this case, after a tornado rolled through Sunset Hills and north parts of St. Louis on News Years Eve.

Looters are robbing the victims of the New Years Eve tornado on the north side of St. Louis. The St. Louis Post Dispatch reports home owners have been in a vicious race against looters to save what is theirs before the crooks get their hands on it. Sad isn't it?

From the Post Dispatch:

"Storm victims in St. Louis and Sunset Hills were not the only ones scrambling on Tuesday to salvage items from homes wrecked in Friday's tornado. Looters were reported to be busy as well.

In north St. Louis, thieves struck at the Enright Avenue home that Sophia Austin, 86, has occupied for nearly 50 years. Austin had to flee the house after Friday's storm blew out windows and tore a hole in a wall.

She moved in with a granddaughter, taking only some clothes and a few other items. When she returned Tuesday, her home had been ransacked. Gone were a 46-inch flat panel television set, a VCR, copper plumbing, even faucet handles.

"Somebody came in and cleaned out some stuff," said Austin, sitting in the kitchen of her granddaughter's apartment. Austin's son, Clark Bennings, lives with her at the home on Enright. He had considered staying at the home Tuesday night to protect it, but changed his mind. Instead, he and a friend packed valuables into a U-Haul."