Devastating tornado strikes Joplin, Missouri

[HoarfrostHubb]

I toured the entire area today. I can't believe the destruction and I got lost in my old neighborhood. Everything looks so closed in, but so far away. The only way you can tell there was a house at the locations worst hit is because there's a driveway in front of it. I did take some pictures and I have pictures left over from days ago as well that I will have to upload sometime. Someone requested a pic of Franklin Tech, I think a meteorologist, and I can clearly say Franklin Tech doesn't exist anymore. There are a couple places that still have bricks that are about chest high, the rest of it is completely destroyed.

Is there anything we can do (is money needed, Red Cross, etc?) to help you folks?

[JoMo]

Is there anything we can do (is money needed, Red Cross, etc?) to help you folks?

We'll need help once this gets out of the national news. There is a lot to clean up. One thing I found cool was that there's basically a case of bottled water on every street corner in the zone for people to get in case they need it.

[weathafella]

I'm ok. My family is ok. We just got power and phone service restored. 3 blocks away is completely gone though. I'll post a more detailed account once I check in with everyone.

We know of at least 2 people we know that died. One was protecting his wife and died from injuries. She survived, he didn't. One had a compound fracture and bled to death, they couldn't give her a transfusion because they didn't have her blood type.

I don't know you. But we're in the same extended family . Seeing this post and knowing you are safe has made my night. I was in KC this week and spent some time watching the aftermath coverage. I think it's safe to say we're all thinking of you and wish you the best and strength to find a way to put this trauma in perspective.

[THEREALTOR1]

We'll need help once this gets out of the national news. There is a lot to clean up. One thing I found cool was that there's basically a case of bottled water on every street corner in the zone for people to get in case they need it.

I'm going to make it a focus next week to try and see if I can hit up some folks for some relief effort. I don't know how successful i'll be but if I can manage to procure some donations, can I just pm you JoMo to assist me in making sure that the monetary or "supply" effort makes its way to the people most in need of it (versus getting pigeon holed in some beaurocratic coffer somewhere)?

[JoMo]

I'm going to make it a focus next week to try and see if I can hit up some folks for some relief effort. I don't know how successful i'll be but if I can manage to procure some donations, can I just pm you JoMo to assist me in making sure that the monetary or "supply" effort makes its way to the people most in need of it (versus getting pigeon holed in some beaurocratic coffer somewhere)?

Honestly I have no idea what charities are legit. You may check in with KZRG on Facebook. You can also try Joplin Tornado Info. Churches and other places are posting what they need on there.

http://www.facebook.com/NewsTalkKZRG?sk=wall

http://www.facebook.com/joplintornadoinfo

[CapitalKid]

I haven't been a member of the forum for a long time, but I'm glad to see you are ok JoMo. And thanks for telling us your amazing story. I can't imagine what I would do in a situation like that.

Make sure and keep us on the forum posted about the progress and needs of Joplin!

[JoMo]

Since I'm bored and in the curfew zone.

I think this car has been here since before the tornado. It's sitting where the garage of a small house was. There's debris under it's right rear tire. The house is nothing but a slab of concrete now. There is damage to the left side of the car and it's left window is busted out. At first I thought someone had just parked it there, but it has not been moved since at least Tues.

To the right of that there's another small house with a slab. When this picture was taken there was water flowing from this house from a water line.

This one is of two guys checking a gas meter that was still leaking, Spray painted on it was "Haz Gas".

A view towards St. Johns regional medical center:

[jhamps10]

How far away from St Johns are you in this picture JoMo?

[JoMo]

How far away from St Johns are you in this picture JoMo?

Probably about 1/2 mile or less. I was in front of where the Elks lodge? was. You can see the flagpole in the St. Johns picture. I was told 2 people died there and there is nothing left of the building. It used to be where the backhoe is in this picture. Look towards the center and a little to the left and you can see the backhoe which was there to dig people out from under the rubble. I don't think St. Johns is going to rebuild there. It doesn't make a lot of sense having both your hospitals about 1/2-3/4 of a mile from each other and the building itself and the surrounding area looks like total loss.

[MJW155]

It doesn't make a lot of sense having both your hospitals about 1/2-3/4 of a mile from each other and the building itself and the surrounding area looks like total loss.

Hospitals are constructed differently from other buildings similar in size.

[JoMo]

Hospitals are constructed differently from other buildings similar in size.

The building was built to withstand 300 MPH winds. If the tornado had been a little bit bigger or stretched farther south, it would have knocked out both of our hospitals.

http://www.ky3.com/news/ky3-hospital20110527,0,1937966.story

JOPLIN, Mo. -- Mercy Health System-St. John's Regional Medical Center said its hospital tower, severely damaged by the tornado last Sunday, will not be rebuilt. Structural engineers spent the week checking the structural integrity of the building. On Thursday, it was announced that, while the building is not at risk of collapse, the site remains “very dangerous.” Mercy said repairing and reoccupying the building is not a viable option.

[Hoosier]

This tornado is on the verge of becoming the 7th deadliest in US history.

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/faq/tornado/killers.html

[jhamps10]

The building was built to withstand 300 MPH winds. If the tornado had been a little bit bigger or stretched farther south, it would have knocked out both of our hospitals.

http://www.ky3.com/n...0,1937966.story

JOPLIN, Mo. -- Mercy Health System-St. John's Regional Medical Center said its hospital tower, severely damaged by the tornado last Sunday, will not be rebuilt. Structural engineers spent the week checking the structural integrity of the building. On Thursday, it was announced that, while the building is not at risk of collapse, the site remains “very dangerous.” Mercy said repairing and reoccupying the building is not a viable option.

exactly JoMo if that was just 2 blocks wider or even 2 blocks south both hospitals would have been a direct hit. Was Freeman just built or something, kinda makes little sense to me having it right across the street from St Johns, That however is exactly like how a couple of the hospitals are in St Louis with St Johns Mercy and Missouri Baptist, only thing separating them is hwy 40...

So that one of St Johns, you was taking that from basically right in front of the Elks lodge on 26th street? Just the before and after comparing with google streetview and this is just chilling of that area...

[JoMo]

exactly JoMo if that was just 2 blocks wider or even 2 blocks south both hospitals would have been a direct hit. Was Freeman just built or something, kinda makes little sense to me having it right across the street from St Johns, That however is exactly like how a couple of the hospitals are in St Louis with St Johns Mercy and Missouri Baptist, only thing separating them is hwy 40...

So that one of St Johns, you was taking that from basically right in front of the Elks lodge on 26th street? Just the before and after comparing with google streetview and this is just chilling of that area...

Yep, and if you want to see the 2 houses (the pics with the black car in it) Go to "2448 West 26th Street, Joplin, MO" and turn the camera around to the left and you can see that they are now gone and all that's left is the slabs.

[MJW155]

The building was built to withstand 300 MPH winds. If the tornado had been a little bit bigger or stretched farther south, it would have knocked out both of our hospitals.

http://www.ky3.com/n...0,1937966.story

JOPLIN, Mo. -- Mercy Health System-St. John's Regional Medical Center said its hospital tower, severely damaged by the tornado last Sunday, will not be rebuilt. Structural engineers spent the week checking the structural integrity of the building. On Thursday, it was announced that, while the building is not at risk of collapse, the site remains “very dangerous.” Mercy said repairing and reoccupying the building is not a viable option.

Sorry, I misunderstood you. I thought you meant you were surprised that the hospital wasn't as damaged as other buildings nearby. I didn't realize you meant you were surprised both hospitals were so close together.

[jhamps10]

i mean just to get the sheer prespective of this, This is the pic looking at St Johns as close as I could get to matching it up before last Sunday:

and then you have JoMo's pic:

I mean it's just crazy the power of this tornado, and getting to see that on a whole new level thanks to streetview kinda makes you feel like wow this is how powerful this tornado REALLY was...

[jhamps10]

Yep, and if you want to see the 2 houses (the pics with the black car in it) Go to "2448 West 26th Street, Joplin, MO" and turn the camera around to the left and you can see that they are now gone and all that's left is the slabs.

that is just amazing... a brick home just wiped away clean like that, and that car is in the garage area, and the tornado just left the car.. Can't tell what kind of car it is from that far back but hey it's a strong one I'll say that...

[Amped]

This tornado is on the verge of becoming the 7th deadliest in US history.

http://www.spc.noaa....do/killers.html

Intersting only a couple of those are in Oklahoma

[JoMo]

that is just amazing... a brick home just wiped away clean like that, and that car is in the garage area, and the tornado just left the car.. Can't tell what kind of car it is from that far back but hey it's a strong one I'll say that...

Yeah the car has been there, it's just weird. The actual home was probably poorly constructed and it wasn't all brick. Just the front and around the garage.

There are street signs like this all over since it's very easy to get lost since the landscape does not look the same. There's even street names painted on the streets in some places.

This was bedding or a mattress wrapped around a tree.

Just general destruction pictures:

[Hoosier]

Intersting only a couple of those are in Oklahoma

"Death Alley" is largely displaced from the Plains tornado alley due to a number of factors

[MJW155]

I'm surprised Central Florida isn't higher.

[JoMo]

This is St. Paul's. The middle of the sanctuary is scooped out but the playground equipment is perfectly fine.

This power pole was splintered.

This was a PVC pipe assembly of some kind sticking into a house that was about 2 blocks away from where the tornado hit.

What's left of someone's door was found just below the above house.

A little girls shoe that I found in my yard. No idea where it came from and it wasn't there before the tornado. This really creeped me out...

The final picture I took until today was a picture of a mom and her son on the 2nd level of their house attempting to gather what was left.

[blackjack123]

The whole thing on the Joplin tornado just blows my mind. I know its not impossible because it has happened in Joplin. How is it that a tornado of this magnitude live for not even 10 minutes, be on the ground for only 7 miles, max out at EF5 over Joplin, and destroy that beautiful city? I mean it is just beyond my comprehension how a tornado could destroy that much of that city and kill over 100 people in such little time. It is just truly scary and unthinkable.

[thewxmann]

The whole thing on the Joplin tornado just blows my mind. I know its not impossible because it has happened in Joplin. How is it that a tornado of this magnitude live for not even 10 minutes, be on the ground for only 7 miles, max out at EF5 over Joplin, and destroy that beautiful city? I mean it is just beyond my comprehension how a tornado could destroy that much of that city and kill over 100 people in such little time. It is just truly scary and unthinkable.

On a tangent sorta kinda-- but the path length of the tornado has been extended to 13 miles.

[cyclone77]

I'm still thinking the supercell that was in the process of merging with the Jopin supercell from the south helped enhance the meso of the Joplin supercell.

[blackjack123]

On a tangent sorta kinda-- but the path length of the tornado has been extended to 13 miles.

That tornado came out of nowhere from an area I never would have suspected. 13 miles is not extremely long tracked but still the tornado was able to annihilate parts of Joplin and live not as long as I would think. The conditions that day were favorable for strong tornadoes but I never would have suspected a tornado of that magnitude in the area it was at. There was a 10% hatched area for strong tornadoes in Joplin. It also probably wasnt favorable for extremely long-lived tornadoes but the Joplin tornado was very violent and something you would not expect. I have heard of a few times strong tornadoes in lower risk days but like I said this tornado was extremely violent. It seems very real now that a mile-wide EF5 tornado could take a 30-40 mile path through downtown Dallas during the middle of rush hour traffic killing thousands of people. I would hate to think something like this would happen but ever since this tornado in Joplin it seems very possible.

[THEREALTOR1]

Honestly I have no idea what charities are legit. You may check in with KZRG on Facebook. You can also try Joplin Tornado Info. Churches and other places are posting what they need on there.

http://www.facebook....alkKZRG?sk=wall

http://www.facebook....plintornadoinfo

Those are some incredible pics JoMo. Even looking at those pics its difficult for me to get my head wrapped around it. Almost makes me want to fly out there just to see it for myself. Thank you for the links, i'll check those out. I also found this site from the news this morning: cfozarks.org They seem legit, and appear to be collecting long term donations to assist in the rebuild of the community. Anybody familiar with that site?

[eyewall]

JoMo thank you for your explanations of what we are looking at in these images and your accounts.

[JoMo]

The Joplin Globe had a fascinating story that included interviews with people along the path of the storm. It included information that included: St. Johns was shifted 4 inches off it's foundation. 4 out of 5 people that took shelter in the Elk's lodge died. There were also multiple reports of an "eye" with calmness in the center of it.

http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/x1190396915/Along-tornado-s-path-victims-recall-trauma-wonder-about-future

[Ed Lizard]

Second collection at church was for Joplin.

I don't think one can go wrong with the Salvation Army (.org for the URL, I think). Nor the Red Cross, but they have high overhead. JFed is raising money to help. As is Catholic Charities.

I saw Tuscaloosa on a show last night, the streets are cleared in the impact zone, but debris is still all over off the streets. I imagine it will be weeks until all the debris is cleared in Joplin.