Kentucky Man Offers Help in Joplin

Joel Hatfield’s first impression Monday as he drove into Joplin, Mo., a place he called home for nine years, was that the streets he used to drive — and the homes and businesses that once were familiar — now are scattered everywhere. Trees stand snapped, two-level homes are flattened and vehicles sit after being tossed around like rag dolls. “It was catastrophic,’’ said Hatfield, who lives in Summit. “There’s no way to describe, really, what it looked like. It was like a big lawnmower came down from the sky and ate up everything in its path.’’