Devastating tornado strikes Joplin, Missouri

[mappy]

The location of this video (Over by JHS has been posted)

It was taken at 24th and Minnesota, it's on the same street as the Home Security video posted above but 3 blocks farther north. The NWS survey has the center crossing very close to this house.

Lot of cussing:

Those people are incredibly lucky

[JoMo]

Wonder how close this was to the EF-5 damage that occurred near the high school.

That damage was 1 block west and 1 block north of the vid basically. I've always thought the center was probably a bit farther north when compared to the survey or the tornado had a much stronger northern side when compared to the south side, if that makes sense.

The tornado was taking a bit of a north jog at this time so the people in that house were extremely lucky.

[cyclone77]

That damage was 1 block west and 1 block north of the vid basically. I've always thought the center was probably a bit farther north when compared to the survey or the tornado had a much stronger northern side when compared to the south side, if that makes sense.

The tornado was taking a bit of a north jog at this time so the people in that house were extremely lucky.

Wow, that's real close.

Just by looking at GE the damage just northwest of that location looks very bad.

[155mph+]

Here are some pictures that my brother took a week after the tornado. They are mostly from 24th and Iowa where my aunt lived with a few from Hampshire Terrace apartments. Thankfully my aunt had a basement and she survived unscathed. Its was surreal to see this kind of destruction firsthand and definitely shows how powerful mother nature can be.

http://brittoglesby.smugmug.com/gallery/18227413_FZ9dWp/1401434543_vPdfRrG#!i=1401434543&k=vPdfRrG

[JoMo]

Here are some pictures that my brother took a week after the tornado. They are mostly from 24th and Iowa where my aunt lived with a few from Hampshire Terrace apartments. Thankfully my aunt had a basement and she survived unscathed. Its was surreal to see this kind of destruction firsthand and definitely shows how powerful mother nature can be.

http://brittoglesby....34543&k=vPdfRrG

Thanks for posting these. These are high quality pics of some of the area depicted in cyclone77's circled area. I found a lot of them very interesting. Considering how tightly packed the houses were, it's difficult to tell if some of these would have the foundations completely swept clean or not but it's obvious there was complete failure in a lot of the houses in this area. I think the pic of the rebar/concreted pole is interesting as well as the pic of two of the metal poles bent facing each other.

[das]

Here are some pictures that my brother took a week after the tornado. They are mostly from 24th and Iowa where my aunt lived with a few from Hampshire Terrace apartments. Thankfully my aunt had a basement and she survived unscathed. Its was surreal to see this kind of destruction firsthand and definitely shows how powerful mother nature can be.

http://brittoglesby....34543&k=vPdfRrG

Excellent photo set, thanks for posting. There's a lot to be gleaned from them about the microdynamics of a strong tornado in a densely populated area.

[JoMo]

Still seeing a lot of Spring Break groups here in Joplin helping out.

AP ran an article today about Joplin and New Orleans.

http://www.columbiat...-common-ground/

It was interesting they put this in the article:

Joplin also lacks the history of political corruption, cronyism and internecine squabbling that has long characterized New Orleans.

"New Orleans has a history of ineffective government. It's going to be harder for them to get things on track, compared to Joplin," said David McEntire, a professor of emergency administration and planning at the University of North Texas who studies global responses to natural disasters.

The 150,000 sq ft component hospital for Mercy/St John's is almost complete. This will be the permanent structure until the actual hospital is rebuilt. It is made up of 224 structural steel components that have came from California to Joplin via truck. When it's completed in April it will be the quickest and largest acute care hospital ever constructed in the US.

http://news.yahoo.co...-071245033.html

The Facebook page Joplin Tornado Info, as well as Branson Tornado Info (which made their page in January before they were hit by a tornado on Feb 28th) have information about the use of social media for disaster recovery.

It's a good read, especially if you are interested in making a page for your city.

This is a PDF document:

http://extension.mis...20disasters.pdf

And Joplin tornado sirens will only go off the first Monday of the month after the silent siren testing hardware is installed.

[JoMo]

Joplin High School is almost completely gone now, just piles of debris:

Compared to this after the tornado:

[Indystorm]

A medical team from the destroyed Mercy St. John's Hospital in Joplin is sharing their experiences here in my Michiana neck of the woods at South Bend Memorial Hospital and at a conference at Notre Dame. Good to learn disaster preparedness procedures for hospitals from those who were directly impacted. Good coverage of their visit by our local news media, especially since the recent tornados in Henryville IN and Dexter MI.

[JoMo]

City of Joplin ordered 4,000 Midland WR-120 weather radios with a Red Cross $50,000 donation and donations from the Joplin First Response tornado fund.

They got the first shipment of 800 in and gave them out at 3 local fire stations today and I believe they were all given away. You had to provide a photo ID and proof of residence, also people were required to sign an agreement that they would not sell the weather radio.

[JoMo]

Out of the 4,000 weather radios ordered, there are 630 left to be handed out.

Boomtown days has been canceled this year since they want to concentrate on the May 22nd event(s).

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 23, 2012 #175

SUBJECT: Community invited to One Year Anniversary: “A Day of Unity”

CONTACT: Lynn Onstot, Public Information Officer

417-624-0820, ext. 204

Community members along with the City of Joplin are finalizing plans for “A Day of Unity” to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the May 22, 2011 tornado. One of the main highlights will include “A Walk of Unity” that travels through the area devastated by the EF-5 twister.

With several stops along the route, the Walk will begin in the eastern side of Joplin, near 17th & Range Line, and move through neighborhoods until reaching Cunningham Park. The Walk is scheduled to begin at approximately 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 22nd and will conclude near the five o’clock hour at the Park in time for a 5:41 p.m. Moment of Silence, with a formal dedication of the bronze plaque inscribed with the names of those who lost their lives in the tornado.

“It is a day to be one as a community, to stand tall and recognize the many facets of this past year,” said Mark Rohr, City Manager. “As we remember the many trials and sadness we’ve experienced, we also acknowledge the courage it takes to move forward in the recovery process.”

One goal for the Walk is to symbolize walking against the wind which exemplifies the resilience of our citizens and how they, in the hours of peril and still today, stand strong and united.

The Walk will also be a time to acknowledge the 119,000+ volunteers who have come from near and far to aid in the rescue, recover and now the rebuilding of Joplin. A special invitation is being extended to the many individuals, organizations and agencies to return and join us on this significant day. But, most importantly, the event is A Walk of Unity to demonstrate the strength as a community and how everyone has worked together setting a new standard in disaster response.

Everyone is encouraged to participate in the manner that suits them, whether walking a portion of the route or the entire distance, or joining along the way in one of the many neighborhoods as they reconnect with their neighbors. The public is also invited to join in the activities at the stops along the route. Details of the route as well as the planned events along the way are being finalized and will be announced in the near future.

Please watch for more announcements about other activities being planned for the Day of Unity.

[on_wx]

No idea if this was posted, but it's from "Cedar Ridge" in Joplin and states it's as the tornado was forming.

There is so much rotation!

[B-Rent]

JoMo

We're headed home this weekend and we always go to Lambert in Ozark. Thought about making a day of it and heading down to see Joplin.

Anywhere specific we would want to check out? More importantly anywhere to keep away from?

[JoMo]

JoMo

We're headed home this weekend and we always go to Lambert in Ozark. Thought about making a day of it and heading down to see Joplin.

Anywhere specific we would want to check out? More importantly anywhere to keep away from?

For a quick tour:

If you take the Rangeline exit off I-44, you can head north to 20th street, you can see all the places that have built back in the commercial district there. Come back west on 20th and enjoy the nothingness that is 20th street. You can see where Hampshire Terrace apartments used to be and Dillons supermarket before you reach where Joplin High School used to be. Head south on Indiana avenue to 26th street where you will turn back west and take 26th all the way back west until you reach Schifferdecker. This will show you the hospital and Cunningham Park. They were working on bringing down the medical buildings around the hospital, but the actual hospital probably won't come down until sometime in late April.

Everything should be open and there aren't really any places to avoid.

Pizza Hut on Rangeline was rebuilt and it reopened yesterday I think.

[JoMo]

Updated vid from Con-Way truck bay. You can see the doors explode inside at about 38 seconds in and one of them kinds of floats around for awhile.

And pretty high quality vid from some chasers just minutes after the tornado moved though on Rangeline.

[JoMo]

We're over the $300 million mark on new construction. 59% built back as far as homes go.

Joplin Globe has an interesting map plotting where these homes are, how much they cost, etc.

http://www.joplinglobe.com/topstories/x684076010/Joplin-construction-tops-300-million-since-tornado

But builders are clashing over home sizes and values which may have actually slowed the rebuilding some as Joplin doesn't have specific zoning requirements in the old neighborhoods so you're getting doublewide modular houses beside fancy houses driving the property values down.

http://www.joplinglobe.com/topstories/x684073610/Builders-clash-over-home-sizes-values

[EquusStorm]

It's so great to see that the rebuilding process in Joplin is coming along so nicely. Sure, there'll be a few issues here and there, but all in all it sounds like things continue to improve.

[JoMo]

Big school bond issue going up for vote on April 3rd.

Not only are Joplin High School, Irving Elementary, East Middle School and Elementary #2 going to be rebuilt but they will build gyms that will double as community shelters. There will be the capacity to hold 20,000 people.

http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/x1451002518/School-storm-shelters-could-house-20-000-people-as-well-as-students

http://www.joplinglobe.com/topstories/x1451002524/Joplin-School-District-seeks-OK-for-bond-issue

High School virtual tour:

Irving virtual tour:

[JoMo]

The school bond unofficially passes. It required 57.1% of the vote, it received somewhere around 57.6%.

That means we'll be getting community shelters, and the schools posted in the last post ^

[EquusStorm]

Wow, that's even better news. Looks like Joplin may come out of this even better and safer than before. Shame it took an EF-5 tornado to start the process though :<

[NaoPos]

Wow, that's even better news. Looks like Joplin may come out of this even better and safer than before. Shame it took an EF-5 tornado to start the process though :<

It's societies nature as a whole to be reactive rather than proactive.

[B-Rent]

I drove around Joplin, Tuesday. I may have actually gotten a bit lost on JoMos hood.

It's so surprising to me that you can still look up in trees and see debris. The other thing, the trees themselves. They are so barren, it's surreal to see a tree with no branches growing leaves.

Sent from my ADR6400L

[JoMo]

Yeah it's pretty shocking that those trees survived the winter and are now coming out of it even though they are disfigured.

The Atlanta based contractor the school district hired to do demolition work is now suing the school district for non-payment.

http://www.joplinglobe.com/tornadomay2011/x611942262/Contractor-sues-Joplin-School-District

The Bel-Aire shopping center which was destroyed (featured at the first of the storm chaser van tour video where the chasers were fleeing the path) is going to be rebuilt bigger. A Longhorn streakhouse, which is new to Joplin will also be built there.

http://www.joplinglobe.com/topstories/x2108288656/Bel-Aire-rebuilding-plans-suit-neighbors

Volunteers from Ohio, Chicago, OKC, Tulsa have moved to Joplin since the tornado.

http://www.joplinglobe.com/topstories/x1789079835/Volunteers-others-moving-to-Joplin-after-first-coming-to-city-to-help-out

“The people here are exceptional. I feel like there is something here special that you don’t find everywhere else. They are kind and appreciative. They don’t focus on what they lost, but what they have. It is teaching me lessons and I have grown in a way I’ve never grown before. You can’t put a paycheck on that.”

“We, as people, seek out the company of others like us,” she said. “I have found that here. I fit in.”

[EquusStorm]

I drove around Joplin, Tuesday. I may have actually gotten a bit lost on JoMos hood.

It's so surprising to me that you can still look up in trees and see debris. The other thing, the trees themselves. They are so barren, it's surreal to see a tree with no branches growing leaves.

Sent from my ADR6400L

The trees, oh yes. I've always noticed that surviving trees bear some of the most fascinating (and alien-looking) reminders of tornadoes. Just a couple miles from the house, I go through an area of branchless trees with foliage clusters on their trunks every time I head for town, a reminder of the Saragossa F3 back on Nov 10 2002 that killed 7 people. And a trip to Hackleburg or Phil Campbell shows the same thing there, a landscape of broken tree snags, downed timber, and the occasional alien tree sticking up partially debarked and without branches but bearing clusters of fresh foliage from new growth along the trunk. It's both encouraging and sad, fascinating and bizarre.

[B-Rent]

The trees, oh yes. I've always noticed that surviving trees bear some of the most fascinating (and alien-looking) reminders of tornadoes. Just a couple miles from the house, I go through an area of branchless trees with foliage clusters on their trunks every time I head for town, a reminder of the Saragossa F3 back on Nov 10 2002 that killed 7 people. And a trip to Hackleburg or Phil Campbell shows the same thing there, a landscape of broken tree snags, downed timber, and the occasional alien tree sticking up partially debarked and without branches but bearing clusters of fresh foliage from new growth along the trunk. It's both encouraging and sad, fascinating and bizarre.

Thats the first time I have seen aftermath of major damage. I've had EF1-EF2 events close to me before and seen the immediate damage from those, but to see the size and level of damage there in Joplin, a year after, was amazing. I kept telling my friend giving me the tour, :I didn't expect to still see sheet metal and insulation in the trees."

[JoMo]

Thats the first time I have seen aftermath of major damage. I've had EF1-EF2 events close to me before and seen the immediate damage from those, but to see the size and level of damage there in Joplin, a year after, was amazing. I kept telling my friend giving me the tour, :I didn't expect to still see sheet metal and insulation in the trees."

Anything else that shocked you?

You can still see people's clothes in some of the trees as well. We've had a lot of amazing volunteers come and they've been working on cutting down and clearing out the downed trees in the more forested areas.

[B-Rent]

Anything else that shocked you?

You can still see people's clothes in some of the trees as well. We've had a lot of amazing volunteers come and they've been working on cutting down and clearing out the downed trees in the more forested areas.

Not as much shocked me as should have. I think seeing all of your photos prepared me for what I would see.

You can tell its a changed landscape. After the trees, the very first thing I noticed was the street names painted on the road. I think we were on 22nd st? The one that goes next to the hospital.

It felt more solemn in areas where you KNEW someone died. Walmart, Home Depot, those places. A couple of times I caught my self thinking "It looks so normal here, how is that possible?"

We drove by the hospital, I had tried to explain the modular concept to my my wife, who is a nurse, but she had to see it to understand. It was hard telling on the old hospital, where damage was vs. demolition.

I didn't realize how close your two hospitals were. Talk about a streak of luck.

[EquusStorm]

Thats the first time I have seen aftermath of major damage. I've had EF1-EF2 events close to me before and seen the immediate damage from those, but to see the size and level of damage there in Joplin, a year after, was amazing. I kept telling my friend giving me the tour, :I didn't expect to still see sheet metal and insulation in the trees."

Oh yes, definitely. The difference between EF1-EF2 damage and EF5 damage is staggering and sad. The EF3 damage from 2002 was the worst I'd seen until April 27, and the Hackleburg area was my first experience with EF5 damage (plus Cullman, Bridgeport, Tuscaloosa, Argo Hill, and Sipsey at EF4). Across the road from the Wrangler plant, back in July, you could see hundreds of pairs of jeans and white shirts hanging in tree snags and shrubbery, mixed with twisted metal from the plant itself. It was incredibly surreal. They cleaned it all up now, though, and I lost the photos in a HD crash. All that was left in the immediate area last time I went through was one twisted piece of metal that was part of the entrance gate, along with two perfectly healthy river birches near the destroyed sign for the plant; how those survived is beyond me. That was the center of the path and the tornado was a mile-wide EF4/low EF5 at that time.

It felt more solemn in areas where you KNEW someone died. Walmart, Home Depot, those places. A couple of times I caught my self thinking "It looks so normal here, how is that possible?"

In Phil Campbell especially, it was very sickening to look at all the clean slabs and know for a fact that 26 people died in the area. There's really very little that can compare to that feeling.

But Hackleburg and Phil Campbell are very small towns. Going back to the topic of this thread that I have kind of sidetracked, I can't begin to imagine how awful the scene must have been in Joplin, a city of 50k, in the aftermath of a massive EF5 that plowed straight through the middle of it. Even seeing the pictures probably does no justice to that damage. Just glad to know the city is recovering pretty well. Best wishes for the folks up Missouri way.

[JoMo]

Not as much shocked me as should have. I think seeing all of your photos prepared me for what I would see.

You can tell its a changed landscape. After the trees, the very first thing I noticed was the street names painted on the road. I think we were on 22nd st? The one that goes next to the hospital.

It felt more solemn in areas where you KNEW someone died. Walmart, Home Depot, those places. A couple of times I caught my self thinking "It looks so normal here, how is that possible?"

We drove by the hospital, I had tried to explain the modular concept to my my wife, who is a nurse, but she had to see it to understand. It was hard telling on the old hospital, where damage was vs. demolition.

I didn't realize how close your two hospitals were. Talk about a streak of luck.

The street you were on was probably 26th. The street names are painted on by AmeriCorps volunteers. The street signs that are missing were part of the insurance coverage for the city. It takes a long time to get that sorted out I guess. The cleanup went extremely quickly for the amount of debris that was out there and Wal-mart, Home Depot, Academy rebuilt really quickly.

The two towers at the hospital really haven't been touched due to asbestos abatement still going on so what you saw was tornado damage. The medical buildings just to the south of the hospital have been torn down. The hospitals were really close and even though Freeman wasn't hit by the tornado it did suffer roof damage from the inflow winds.

Mercy uploaded a video of how the components to the component hospital have been built, towards the end you can see a time-lapse video of it being assembled on site. I think Mid-April is the expected opening.

Cunningham Park right across from the hospital has a pool and now, cool new slides that it didn't have before. It's going to open on-time Memorial Weekend.

[B-Rent]

Is that next to the park the tv show built?