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Devastating tornado strikes Joplin, Missouri


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A couple of updates. First of all FEMA denied the Missouri Gov. request for an extension on the 90% cleanup cost so it will revert to 75% FEMA/ 25% state and local. However, governor Jay Nixon announced today that the state will cover the full 25% of the state/local cleanup.

FEMA trailer park #1 is ready to go after the first of the storm shelters arrived.

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Top half of concrete shelter that holds 35.

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The school district has accepted a bid for cleanup at the destroyed schools and it now looks like all the temporary schools will be ready for school come Aug 17th. Every student gets a backpack full of supplies so parents don't have to buy any.

The school put the video back up which has a better contrast than the other video. They also added some pictures of people who had donated to the school an donations. I just can't believe how dark it was outside. The scenes that really get me are when it is pitch black and the door rips open to the outside at 44 seconds, the shot out the front door a 1:49, the hallway shot at 2:24 is amazing and it almost looks like a tsunami coming down the hall, the chunk of debris flying through the window at 2:33, the debris flying out at 2:50 and the end lunchroom scene. The lunchroom scene has me curious since there is an obvious 'swirl' to the debris which starts moving from right to left and then by the end moves left to right.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZ7Fx4Gxu40

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I am not sure if this was posted but I found this on a Facebook page.

http://thedailywh.at...r-of-the-day-3/

Creative way of a before and after view. What got me was the drive over the hill at about 1:05 and coming upon the massive damage.

26th runs east to west

Yep and here's one from Main street which runs north to south

There's a video that has RAW language of people who arrived in Joplin right after the tornado. They came in on Maiden Lane near the hospital off 32nd and as soon as they made it over the hill and saw all the destruction it was shocking, can't find it now though heh

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The Army Corps was successful in clearing 100% of the right-of-ways and residential property that had signed a right-of-entry form before the August 7th 90% FEMA deadline. All sectors were closed Saturday Night (Aug 6th) but they were still collecting debris on Aug 7th from curbside areas until midnight. They will continue to stay and help until at least the middle of September as there are some people that didn't sign of the right-of-entry forms. Thanks to the Army Corps and all the volunteers!!

Here's some before/after cleanup photos from Angela Covington Photography.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150404472891110.443279.762911109&type=1

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School starts Aug 17th. This is around 87 days since the tornado and I believe 6 schools were knocked out and had to have temporary locations. The temporary locations were set up in just 55 days. The high school at the mall is pretty awesome (11th and 12th graders) Coffee shop ran by business students, collaborative moving walls, and a bunch of other state of the art stuff including laptops for all students thanks to a donation by the United Arab Emirates. Every student gets a backpack full of supplies when they start. There was a story in USA Today.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-08-14-Joplin-tornado-schools-resume_n.htm?bctid=1105736067001

Tour of the 11th and 12th grade at the mall:

Tomorrow, St. Johns will announce where they are building the new hospital.

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A couple of updates. First of all FEMA denied the Missouri Gov. request for an extension on the 90% cleanup cost so it will revert to 75% FEMA/ 25% state and local. However, governor Jay Nixon announced today that the state will cover the full 25% of the state/local cleanup.

FEMA trailer park #1 is ready to go after the first of the storm shelters arrived.

250273_10150290117510209_93286195208_7658455_2339661_n.jpg

Top half of concrete shelter that holds 35.

185302_10150290117285209_93286195208_7658451_6623036_n.jpg

The school district has accepted a bid for cleanup at the destroyed schools and it now looks like all the temporary schools will be ready for school come Aug 17th. Every student gets a backpack full of supplies so parents don't have to buy any.

The school put the video back up which has a better contrast than the other video. They also added some pictures of people who had donated to the school an donations. I just can't believe how dark it was outside. The scenes that really get me are when it is pitch black and the door rips open to the outside at 44 seconds, the shot out the front door a 1:49, the hallway shot at 2:24 is amazing and it almost looks like a tsunami coming down the hall, the chunk of debris flying through the window at 2:33, the debris flying out at 2:50 and the end lunchroom scene. The lunchroom scene has me curious since there is an obvious 'swirl' to the debris which starts moving from right to left and then by the end moves left to right.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZ7Fx4Gxu40

How has FEMA been handling it in Joplin? I was in New Orleans for Katrina (and many years after) and they handled it absolutely awful. I truly hope you're (and your town) are having a much easier time.

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How has FEMA been handling it in Joplin? I was in New Orleans for Katrina (and many years after) and they handled it absolutely awful. I truly hope you're (and your town) are having a much easier time.

FEMA did a fantastic job supporting local and state leaders. They have extended the deadline until Aug 26th to apply for FEMA help. They were essential in finding rental property around the area in order to get people placed into rental homes and apartments. City of Joplin donated the land for the FEMA trailer parks to be set up and FEMA and US Army Corps of Engineers worked together to get contracts out to rebuild temporary facilities for 2 fire stations, the temporary schools, and clean-up of the debris. The Army Corps will be leaving Aug 22nd and the city will be hiring a contractor in early September to collect any remaining debris. There have been a few FEMA issues with personal payments to survivors that have cropped up due to incorrectly filled out paperwork, but the majority of it has gone smoothly.

Joplin would not be so well off if it wasn't for the huge number of volunteers that have came to Joplin to help and donate their time. As of Aug 1st, there have been 72,797 registered volunteers that have served a total of 356,392 hours which amounts to almost 41 years of work.

The volunteers are still coming and helping and are primarily being used for cleaning up yards of small debris which makes a big difference believe it or not. They are also being used to put the finishing touches on the schools, moving in furniture, sorting supplies, painting, etc...

It's nice seeing rebuilding taking place all over town.

We are expecting a lot of media coverage on the first day of school Aug 17th.

Here's kind of a touching story that's sad but not.

Man's missing dog found 12 weeks after tornado.

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Well, good... that's awesome. When I saw the city of Joplin after the tornado it sent chills down my spine for weeks after, just even to think about it. It looked nearly identical to what NOLA looked like after Katrina, just kind of on a smaller scale. I feel your pain more than you can understand. And yes, any volunteer is simply an angel on earth, no doubt about that. I have nothing but terrible things to say about Fema, but I am very glad you had a much better experience. I did see that story about the dog, I followed the whole story very closely, since it hit so closely to home. (Not only in literal terms-- I am in Norman, OK right now-- but in emotional terms as well).

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I-44 and Main is the new site for the hospital. They just announced it. This is south of Freeman hospital by at least 18 blocks.

They are going to have 2 hospital locations.... One on south main is St. Johns replacement. Other one is probably going to 249 and it's going to be outpatient services and other stuff.

Groundbreaking is Jan 2012 for St. Johns, complete in 2014. NE Campus groundbreaking is 2014.

Overall, they are committing $950 million dollars to the hospital.

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Did FEMA replace the ole' fermaldahyde trailers from the Katrina era?

Not sure what you mean? They are prefab'ed homes.

We are expecting a huge amount of media in Joplin tomorrow for the start of school. I know "The Early Show" will be here and there is a local reporter saying they expect 15 satellite trucks at JHS. (at the mall)

http://www.latimes.c...0,7616892.story

BEFORE/AFTER PICS of the cleanup with sliders:

http://www.msnbc.msn...478/ns/us_news/

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Not sure what you mean? They are prefab'ed homes.

We are expecting a huge amount of media in Joplin tomorrow for the start of school. I know "The Early Show" will be here and there is a local reporter saying they expect 15 satellite trucks at JHS. (at the mall)

http://www.latimes.c...0,7616892.story

BEFORE/AFTER PICS of the cleanup with sliders:

http://www.msnbc.msn...478/ns/us_news/

The old trailers they used in the katrina response had high levels of formaldeyhyde*(correct spelling)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/12/AR2010031202213.html

By Spencer S. HsuSaturday, March 13, 2010

In a giant auction, the federal government has agreed to sell for pennies on the dollar most of the 120,000 formaldehyde-tainted trailers it bought nearly five years ago for Hurricane Katrina victims. But the sale of the units, perhaps the most visible symbol of the government's bungled response to the hurricane, has triggered a new round of charges that it is endangering future buyers for years to come.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2007/12/fema-katrina-tr/

and another article from 07'

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will measure formaldehyde levels in 500 trailers provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency as housing for victims of Hurricane Katrina. "However, the scope and design of the study, announced during a press conference today, suggest that it can do little more than confirm what’s already known: the trailers contain high levels of formaldehyde, a known respiratory irritant and carcinogen"

"Walls and cabients in 120,000 trailers distributed by FEMA after Katrina were made from formaldehyde-containing particleboard"

I imagined they've moved on from the debacle, but not sure if it was brought up at town hall meetings. The prefabbed homes =cheap=cheaper means of construction.

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The old trailers they used in the katrina response had high levels of formaldeyhyde*(correct spelling)

http://www.washingto...0031202213.html

By Spencer S. HsuSaturday, March 13, 2010

In a giant auction, the federal government has agreed to sell for pennies on the dollar most of the 120,000 formaldehyde-tainted trailers it bought nearly five years ago for Hurricane Katrina victims. But the sale of the units, perhaps the most visible symbol of the government's bungled response to the hurricane, has triggered a new round of charges that it is endangering future buyers for years to come.

http://www.wired.com...ema-katrina-tr/

and another article from 07'

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will measure formaldehyde levels in 500 trailers provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency as housing for victims of Hurricane Katrina. "However, the scope and design of the study, announced during a press conference today, suggest that it can do little more than confirm what’s already known: the trailers contain high levels of formaldehyde, a known respiratory irritant and carcinogen"

"Walls and cabients in 120,000 trailers distributed by FEMA after Katrina were made from formaldehyde-containing particleboard"

I imagined they've moved on from the debacle, but not sure if it was brought up at town hall meetings. The prefabbed homes =cheap=cheaper means of construction.

yeah I'm pretty sure they probably learned their lesson by now and changed their manufacturing but I had not heard of this.

Lots and lots and lots of news media at the high school at the mall this morning.

"The Early Show" has a lot of coverage but "Good Morning America" has also had coverage.

From the high school at the mall

3minei.jpg

Touching story

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/US/08/16/joplin.school.student/index.html?eref=rss_latest&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_latest+%28RSS%3A+Most+Recent%29&utm_content=Twitter

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FEMA did a fantastic job supporting local and state leaders. They have extended the deadline until Aug 26th to apply for FEMA help. They were essential in finding rental property around the area in order to get people placed into rental homes and apartments. City of Joplin donated the land for the FEMA trailer parks to be set up and FEMA and US Army Corps of Engineers worked together to get contracts out to rebuild temporary facilities for 2 fire stations, the temporary schools, and clean-up of the debris. The Army Corps will be leaving Aug 22nd and the city will be hiring a contractor in early September to collect any remaining debris. There have been a few FEMA issues with personal payments to survivors that have cropped up due to incorrectly filled out paperwork, but the majority of it has gone smoothly.

JoMo, as a FEMA employee (former TV meteorologist) who led the Public Affairs effort on the ground in Joplin during the first 40 days of recovery, I appreciate your comments. There is a huge number of FEMA personnel who have worked tirelessly to ensure Joplin recovers, and recovers quickly - and they'll be in Joplin for a long time.

As far as the 'FEMA trailers' - as you mentioned, the units that residents are living in right now are not trailers, they are manufactured housing that meet all appropriate air quality standards. They are not the same type of units as used along the Gulf Coast. They are actually quite nice.

My comments are my own and do not reflect the views or opinions of FEMA.

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JoMo, as a FEMA employee (former TV meteorologist) who led the Public Affairs effort on the ground in Joplin during the first 40 days of recovery, I appreciate your comments. There is a huge number of FEMA personnel who have worked tirelessly to ensure Joplin recovers, and recovers quickly - and they'll be in Joplin for a long time.

As far as the 'FEMA trailers' - as you mentioned, the units that residents are living in right now are not trailers, they are manufactured housing that meet all appropriate air quality standards. They are not the same type of units as used along the Gulf Coast. They are actually quite nice.

My comments are my own and do not reflect the views or opinions of FEMA.

Ok, 'manufactured housing' ;)

Yeah I've seen inside one, pre-furnished, pretty nice, even comes with a weather radio so people can be scared out of their minds when it goes off at 3 AM for a flash flood watch.

Laptops galore thanks to the UAE donation.

Photo by David Muir:

rbijlo.jpg

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JoMo, as a FEMA employee (former TV meteorologist) who led the Public Affairs effort on the ground in Joplin during the first 40 days of recovery, I appreciate your comments. There is a huge number of FEMA personnel who have worked tirelessly to ensure Joplin recovers, and recovers quickly - and they'll be in Joplin for a long time.

As far as the 'FEMA trailers' - as you mentioned, the units that residents are living in right now are not trailers, they are manufactured housing that meet all appropriate air quality standards. They are not the same type of units as used along the Gulf Coast. They are actually quite nice.

My comments are my own and do not reflect the views or opinions of FEMA.

LIKE!!!

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This is about as close to what I would have seen and experienced as you can get. Later on in the video you can see the debris falling down. It appears the video was taken after the tornado had already passed though as the vid is facing south and southeast. The wife or whoever asks why it's still noisy and he remarks that the door is still open so she tells him to close it, then he gets a look outside. I recall the close lightning strike in the vid as I was on the phone with the neighbor asking if she was ok at the time it struck. I don't remember it being that windy still though.

A documentary is being made by Chip Gubera about the Joplin tornado and will be released in 2012. At 0:42 seconds or so is Jeremiah Cook who was the voice on the KSN tower cam video. I've got to say, it looks really good from the trailer:

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A couple of vids I stumbled across that were posted on May 23th after the tornado that I haven't seen before. These two vids capture the formation in the Cedar Ridge area in SW Joplin, which was the first area hit.

.... Not sure which direction this was taken.

You can see debris flying and hitting the window but no condensation funnel yet. Was this basically forming right over them?

Not sure where this was taken, but these people almost waited too long to take shelter. You can see just how dark it got before the tornado arrived, I can't confirm where this was at but you can hear glass breaking and everything.

EDIT:

Tornado shelters dominate Joplin's rebuilding plans

"When it was over, Jake climbed the ladder, opened the door and looked outside. “It’s gone,” he said. “The house?” asked his mother in law. “The neighborhood,” he answered. "

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It has been 3 months today since the EF-5 destroyed around 30% of Joplin.

Around 90% of the Joplin residents in the tornado will be living within or rebuilding within 25 miles of Joplin.

Joplin Schools hope to be rebuilt in 3 years time. It looks like St. Johns hospital may donate or sell land to the schools and the schools may rebuild Irving school, which was destroyed in the tornado, on that land because traffic would have an easier time getting to the school. Joplin High School is on a flood plain and will be rebuilt in the same spot but possibly in a different configuration.

Walgreens has rebuilt and reopened on the site of it's store at 20th and Rangeline. This area is just in front of Home Depot and the store was leveled to the ground. Construction continues on numerous buildings including Wal-Mart and Home Depot. Chick-fil-a will reopen Sep 1st.

Photos from: http://www.facebook.com/NewsTalkKZRG

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Just a reminder, here's the NOAA hi-res flight imagery 2 days after the tornado:

http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/storms/joplin/

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Extreme Makeover Home Edition announced today that they will be coming to Joplin on October 19th to take on multiple projects and they need a lot of volunteers. I've heard rumors that they are building 7 houses in 7 days but they announced they would be doing multiple projects.

To volunteer, head to this website:

http://www.joinextreme.com/Joplin

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A couple of vids I stumbled across that were posted on May 23th after the tornado that I haven't seen before. These two vids capture the formation in the Cedar Ridge area in SW Joplin, which was the first area hit.

.... Not sure which direction this was taken.

You can see debris flying and hitting the window but no condensation funnel yet. Was this basically forming right over them?

Not sure where this was taken, but these people almost waited too long to take shelter. You can see just how dark it got before the tornado arrived, I can't confirm where this was at but you can hear glass breaking and everything.

EDIT:

Tornado shelters dominate Joplin's rebuilding plans

"When it was over, Jake climbed the ladder, opened the door and looked outside. “It’s gone,” he said. “The house?” asked his mother in law. “The neighborhood,” he answered. "

Some amazing videos right there. In the top vid it looks like he's shooting west, as the tornado begins to take shape just to his southwest towards the end. He was probably narrowly missed just to the south.

That last video is absolutely astonishing to me. I can't believe how long they waited to go inside the house. That roar was downright terrifying, and that's just me sitting behind the computer monitor. Can't imagine what that would have been like in person. I'm guessing they must have been on the southern edge of the tornado, as it appears they sustained more of a moderate brand of damage based on what I can tell towards the end of the vid. Also, it appears you can see the left (southern) edge of the tornado right before they head indoors. The sky is noticeably brighter behind the trees to the left.

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A couple of vids I stumbled across that were posted on May 23th after the tornado that I haven't seen before. These two vids capture the formation in the Cedar Ridge area in SW Joplin, which was the first area hit.

.... Not sure which direction this was taken.

You can see debris flying and hitting the window but no condensation funnel yet. Was this basically forming right over them?

The above two vids were actually shot by the same person. Apparently his house suffered some damage as well, as he shot this aftermath video. Looks like his neighbors just up the road had considerable more damage.

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Here's sort of an interesting sequence of videos all shot by the same person. This is between 29th and 30th Street on South Brownwell Ave. He was a few blocks south of the main damage swath, but according to some of the damage maps I looked at he's considered to be on the southern edge of the damage swath. In the third video you see all kinds of small debris on his street, and can clearly hear the rain-rapped tornado roaring to his north.

Most of the time he's filming towards the east....

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