Some survivors can share their stories.
But others don't have a voice.
Yet if you're an animal-lover, their “tails” will tug on your heartstrings.
A team of six disaster responders with the Missouri Humane Society deployed to Newton County following last weekend’s tornado.
They set up a trailer that is now housing 25 cats and dogs.
People in the community have volunteered their barns and pastures to house the larger displaced animals like cattle, horses, llamas, and donkeys.
Pets in the shelter were recovered by rescuers or brought in by the public, in some cases, their own owners.
"No more had we got in the basement and pulled the mattress over our heads than it hit."
Minutes later the Pikes had lost their second home in two years- the first to a fire, this one to the E-F 4 tornado that pummeled Newton County.
Dustin, his wife, and their four kids were okay... so was baby number five.
Bubbles, a terrier-dachshund mix, hid somewhere upstairs until the storm passed.
Dustin’s other two dogs, 200 pound bull mastiffs, were in this backyard when the storm struck.
The family hasn't seen them since, and may never have seen bubbles again either.
“If it wasn't for them we'd probably have to give her away,” Dustin says.
The Pikes are holed up in a motel for now, so while they spend the day with Bubbles, she spends the night at the Missouri Humane Society on wheels.
Aside from Bubbles, though, this place is a temporary home to small animals recovered on rescue missions or found wandering the streets.
It's already had its fair share of success stories.
“We had one elderly gentleman who lost his dog yesterday. He came by and recovered it. It was pretty emotional for him,” says Jeff McRoy with the Missouri Humane Society.
The traveling shelter hopes to reunite all of these pets with their owners because sometimes a furry face and a wagging tail are the only things that heal the wounds tragedy leaves behind.
Pets not reclaimed will be taken to the humane society in Joplin or Carthage.
The trailer is located on the corner of Iris and Gateway Drive off Highway 71.
If you are missing a pet or you find a pet, the Missouri Humane Society encourages you to stop by its facility.