Devastating tornado strikes Joplin, Missouri

[Master of Disaster]

Must be this one:

http://www.usatoday....64/1?csp=34news

The Joplin report should not be construed that the fatalities from the storm were the result of people ignoring warnings, stressed Greg Carbin, warning coordination meteorologist at the NWS' Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla.

"There were people who took shelter in basements, but they died," he said. "When a building receives a direct hit from a (EF) 4 or an EF5, there's nothing much you can do."

----------------------

If you've watched Jeff Piotrowski's video, EMS help never comes to Iowa street in the hour that he's there pulling people out of the rubble. He actually goes and finds a fire truck from the Carthage fire department at Hampshire Terrace Apts. and leads them back to Iowa street where they start searching for people. Also, on the video, the Joplin Emergency Manager mentions that they sounded the sirens the second time due to police reports from 7th and Blackcat road. Jeff was the one that told them to 'get the sirens going' and that report was relayed back to the emergency center. He also calls the Tulsa, NWS and requests they send as much help as possible to Joplin. I saw a youtube video of a group of people right across from the METS (Joplin ambulance service) barn and as soon as the tornado had went through (and it was still raining heavily), every ambulance was headed out of that barn. I'll always remember the sound of constant sirens later that night and the next day though.

It's just amazing how stretched thin everything is during a disaster such as this. I saw police cars and ambulances days after the tornado from places I've never heard of. I'm assuming they were small towns up near St. Louis or something.

Presentation was pretty good. They talked about how everyone who was injured walked to the hospital yet the hospital was evacuating. Also talked about how they were lucky the generators failed at St Johns or the gas breaks would have caused certain explosions or fires.

Overall not bad. The only thing that got on my nerves a little is he showed a pic of "the joplin tornado" as a picturesque stovepipe with a small debris ball at the base. Def NOT the joplin storm. He also said the total track was 6 miles which we know is wrong. And that it was the widest EF5 in US history. Not sure about that one, I thought OKC May 9th 1999 was wider but Tornado Tony might know.

[JoMo]

Presentation was pretty good. They talked about how everyone who was injured walked to the hospital yet the hospital was evacuating. Also talked about how they were lucky the generators failed at St Johns or the gas breaks would have caused certain explosions or fires.

Overall not bad. The only thing that got on my nerves a little is he showed a pic of "the joplin tornado" as a picturesque stovepipe with a small debris ball at the base. Def NOT the joplin storm. He also said the total track was 6 miles which we know is wrong. And that it was the widest EF5 in US history. Not sure about that one, I thought OKC May 9th 1999 was wider but Tornado Tony might know.

Greensburg was wider. Could have meant the actual EF5 damage area was wider or something?

The actual track through the city was about 6 miles so maybe he meant that. It was on the ground outside of the city though like you said.

The picture probably wasn't of the Joplin tornado as it became a wedge pretty quickly. There was an issue where people have been forwarding a picture of a supercell taken by Dick McGowan 2 years ago and they removed the copyright symbol and have been calling that the Joplin tornado. Extreme Makeover Home Edition even forwarded it.

[Master of Disaster]

Greensburg was wider. Could have meant the actual EF5 damage area was wider or something?

The actual track through the city was about 6 miles so maybe he meant that. It was on the ground outside of the city though like you said.

The picture probably wasn't of the Joplin tornado as it became a wedge pretty quickly. There was an issue where people have been forwarding a picture of a supercell taken by Dick McGowan 2 years ago and they removed the copyright symbol and have been calling that the Joplin tornado. Extreme Makeover Home Edition even forwarded it.

Actually this was what he claimed was Joplin.

[JoMo]

Here's some pics I took on Halloween:

This is going to be the Elk's lodge it looks like. This is on the former site of the Elks lodge where at least 4 people died, just in front of the previous building next to the bent flag pole that has been pictured. They have been digging this out for days now. It's kind of cool to watch them since they are using 2 dump trucks and moving the dirt to the back of the property so it's moving along pretty fast. AT&T and the gas company are also replacing all the lines underground in the areas that don't have houses, and even some that do.

Back view of 4 of the EMHE houses.

St. Johns with crane. I guess they are going to take it down via crane?

[AtticaFanatica]

And that it was the widest EF5 in US history. Not sure about that one, I thought OKC May 9th 1999 was wider but Tornado Tony might know.

It's pretty much impossible to gauge how wide individual tornadoes are using just visual and damage indicators. I wouldn't put much, if any, weight to declarations of this or that tornado being the widest.

[JoMo]

Cunningham Park Post-EMHE rebuild (there used to be so many trees). Drury University designed a lot of this stuff, as well as some other companies. I forgot that the kids got out at 11:45 or something that day, I thought I'd have the park to myself. The city was planting smaller trees on this day in a landscaping way. I'm told there will be a memorial and tree planting going on Nov 22nd at Cunningham.

On the west side of the park by 26th and Maiden Lane. They put up these bleachers and basketball court. It was empty when I got there, but pretty full as I was leaving.

Just north of the basketball court, this is the Real Wood Playset that they spent a lot of time and detail on. Just behind that, where the angry looking man with the bright yellow T-shirt is, is a bench with a wooden fence behind it that has messages written from the volunteers that volunteered at EMHE.

To the east of this, we have this little covered picnic area:

And to the east of that, we have this little playset. It has swings on the other side, and appeared to be quite popular because it was packed with kids. The city has bought the properties behind this area, up to the houses that have been rebuilt back in order to expand the park.

Directly in the middle of the Park. The Lowe's Heroes were building a bridge over the fountain and pond area. The fountain and pond area was not there before the tornado so I'm assuming either Lowe's or EMHE put it in.

All the way on the northeast side of the park is the Memorial to the Volunteers. There are various brass items laying around the memorial such as a helmet and gloves and a sledgehammer. There's a plaque, some benches. Pretty sure the memorial itself is lighted blue at night. There's a bracelet looking thing that says "Miracle of the Human Spirit". There are 4 things with items gathered from the tornado concreted in them around the plaque.

You can see the blue handle of a coffee cup sticking out, there's broken plates, a cigarette lighter from a car, etc.

I was standing in the Memorial to the Volunteers looking back west across the park.

Edit: National Geographic is seeking video so they can make a "Witness: Joplin".

[Master of Disaster]

It's pretty much impossible to gauge how wide individual tornadoes are using just visual and damage indicators. I wouldn't put much, if any, weight to declarations of this or that tornado being the widest.

Valid point. But width does seem to have at least some record keeping value considering you cant search for "widest tornado" without Hallum Nebraska showing up in the results.

[AtticaFanatica]

Valid point. But width does seem to have at least some record keeping value considering you cant search for "widest tornado" without Hallum Nebraska showing up in the results.

Yes, width information is kept in Storm Data, for example. However, as with wind speed estimations, I think the error bars on the width estimations likely preclude deriving anything of value from them on an individual basis.

[andyhb]

And that it was the widest EF5 in US history. Not sure about that one, I thought OKC May 9th 1999 was wider but Tornado Tony might know.

Almost certainly not the widest.

Although, it was similar to the Wichita Falls tornado in 1979 in that it had a wide swath of consistently catastrophic damage.

[JoMo]

Couple of really interesting videos from a TV news documentary . Doug Heady (Joplinmet) is interviewed on these.

http://www.komu.com/...ategories=2%2C5

http://www.komu.com/...=5&categories=5

It brings up the warning times and something I brought up earlier: An incorrect report from the NWS.

This would have placed the tornado out of the actual tornado path:

AT 538 PM CDT...TRAINED WEATHER SPOTTERS REPORTED A TORNADO NEAR

JOPLIN...OR 6 MILES NORTHEAST OF GALENA...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 45 MPH

.Also, National Geographic is looking for:

- Traditional b-roll and raw footage shot by local news crews and videographers<br style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; text-align: left; ">

-Rescue crew radio transmissions and video footage

-911 calls

-Surveillance camera footage

-Amateur videos shot by first responders and local residents

-Cell phone footage

-Podcasts

-Webcams

Emmy award-winning documentary production team is looking for amateur footage to be used in an upcoming special about the 2011 Joplin tornado.

Unlike traditional documentaries, Witness: Joplin will be constructed entirely from original video and audio sources. The goal is to create a lasting historical document, to help communicate what it was like to live through the storm, and to shed light on the emotions that arose from its aftermath.

The production team is gathering video and audio archive (professional and amateur) recorded between May 22nd and May 27th, 2011. If you have material to share, or simply want to learn more about this project, please contact Sarah at [email protected] or 773-936-7067.

[on_wx]

Just thinking back to that day... the tornado obviously caught all of us by surprise. In the thread everyone was focused on the Midwest and it wasn't until the 70dbz+ debris ball appeared over Joplin that people started posting. Then almost immediately after came Jeff P's dire spotter network report did anyone begin to realize what was happening. We couldn't get tv coverage, radio stations were out, scanners weren't available. Then sometime after, which wasn't more than probably twenty minutes, TWC's Mike Bettes arrived on the scene and we all saw the destruction first hand.

Well...

From what I remember... TWC went live, then national and international stations jumped on the story within the hour and it was a huge mess of confusion because no one knew what was happening.

One thing I personally remember and feeling anxious about was CNN's coverage. After posting in the thread, reading online articles, and watching TWC online... it took CNN what felt like hours to start to report the facts. The headline was "BREAKING NEWS: TORNADO SLAMS JOPLIN, MISSOURI" and they reiterated over and over that no news was coming out of the city, no one knew what was going on, and affiliates were en route... even though, what I remember, TWC was already reporting facts and information was quickly becoming available on, for example, social network sites.

CNN just kept talking about how it sounded bad, no info, then they got a hold of a chaser in Joplin who was at some highway service station that was skimmed and the chaser for probably an hour continued to report his story of "somewhat moderate damage, they saw trees down" etc.

Anyone remember this? I wonder what CNN's deal was. By the time they turned off live programming for the night, they still knew next to nothing, even though other outlets were factual and up to date.

Edit, I guess I've long wondered if maybe CNN doesn't have legal ground to report other networks information or reports and they had to personally send one of their legal affiliates to the scene before they could report.I have no idea how it works. But it was a frustrating night.

[andyhb]

Just thinking back to that day... the tornado obviously caught all of us by surprise. In the thread everyone was focused on the Midwest and it wasn't until the 70dbz+ debris ball appeared over Joplin that people started posting. Then almost immediately after came Jeff P's dire spotter network report did anyone begin to realize what was happening. We couldn't get tv coverage, radio stations were out, scanners weren't available. Then sometime after, which wasn't more than probably twenty minutes, TWC's Mike Bettes arrived on the scene and we all saw the destruction first hand.

Well...

From what I remember... TWC went live, then national and international stations jumped on the story within the hour and it was a huge mess of confusion because no one knew what was happening.

One thing I personally remember and feeling anxious about was CNN's coverage. After posting in the thread, reading online articles, and watching TWC online... it took CNN what felt like hours to start to report the facts. The headline was "BREAKING NEWS: TORNADO SLAMS JOPLIN, MISSOURI" and they reiterated over and over that no news was coming out of the city, no one knew what was going on, and affiliates were en route... even though, what I remember, TWC was already reporting facts and information was quickly becoming available on, for example, social network sites.

CNN just kept talking about how it sounded bad, no info, then they got a hold of a chaser in Joplin who was at some highway service station that was skimmed and the chaser for probably an hour continued to report his story of "somewhat moderate damage, they saw trees down" etc.

Anyone remember this? I wonder what CNN's deal was. By the time they turned off live programming for the night, they still knew next to nothing, even though other outlets were factual and up to date.

CNN's nonsense was even worse on the day of the April 27th outbreak and the aftermath, I don't even want to go there because it will piss me off, tbqh.

[on_wx]

CNN's nonsense was even worse on the day of the April 27th outbreak and the aftermath, I don't even want to go there because it will piss me off, tbqh.

It was also terrible on the Japan earthquake, too, but I can barely remember the April 27 coverage except they kept reporting live from the same spot as if that one small area was the only devastated area in all of North America. It's the only major US network I get on cable. It feels like years prior they had exceptional event coverage but this year had been lackluster for the network.

[Hoosier]

Just thinking back to that day... the tornado obviously caught all of us by surprise. In the thread everyone was focused on the Midwest and it wasn't until the 70dbz+ debris ball appeared over Joplin that people started posting. Then almost immediately after came Jeff P's dire spotter network report did anyone begin to realize what was happening. We couldn't get tv coverage, radio stations were out, scanners weren't available. Then sometime after, which wasn't more than probably twenty minutes, TWC's Mike Bettes arrived on the scene and we all saw the destruction first hand.

Well...

From what I remember... TWC went live, then national and international stations jumped on the story within the hour and it was a huge mess of confusion because no one knew what was happening.

One thing I personally remember and feeling anxious about was CNN's coverage. After posting in the thread, reading online articles, and watching TWC online... it took CNN what felt like hours to start to report the facts. The headline was "BREAKING NEWS: TORNADO SLAMS JOPLIN, MISSOURI" and they reiterated over and over that no news was coming out of the city, no one knew what was going on, and affiliates were en route... even though, what I remember, TWC was already reporting facts and information was quickly becoming available on, for example, social network sites.

CNN just kept talking about how it sounded bad, no info, then they got a hold of a chaser in Joplin who was at some highway service station that was skimmed and the chaser for probably an hour continued to report his story of "somewhat moderate damage, they saw trees down" etc.

Anyone remember this? I wonder what CNN's deal was. By the time they turned off live programming for the night, they still knew next to nothing, even though other outlets were factual and up to date.

Edit, I guess I've long wondered if maybe CNN doesn't have legal ground to report other networks information or reports and they had to personally send one of their legal affiliates to the scene before they could report.I have no idea how it works. But it was a frustrating night.

I guess you can never fully anticipate an EF5 making a direct hit on a heavily populated area but I think we knew the tornado risk was nonzero even though most of the attention wasn't on that area. I think SPC had a 5% chance there but I'd have to double check that. It was a very bad sign when they were already reporting like 25 deaths right after it happened.

[andyhb]

I guess you can never fully anticipate an EF5 making a direct hit on a heavily populated area but I think we knew the tornado risk was nonzero even though most of the attention wasn't on that area. I think SPC had a 5% chance there but I'd have to double check that. It was a very bad sign when they were already reporting like 25 deaths right after it happened.

10% hatched around the Joplin area.

[Hoosier]

10% hatched around the Joplin area.

Yeah you just beat me to it

[andyhb]

Yeah you just beat me to it

Had to be moving faster than the May '98 derecho to beat you at that

[on_wx]

Had to be moving faster than the May '98 derecho to beat you at that

Hey, I was hit by that one!

[JoMo]

Just thinking back to that day... the tornado obviously caught all of us by surprise. In the thread everyone was focused on the Midwest and it wasn't until the 70dbz+ debris ball appeared over Joplin that people started posting. Then almost immediately after came Jeff P's dire spotter network report did anyone begin to realize what was happening. We couldn't get tv coverage, radio stations were out, scanners weren't available. Then sometime after, which wasn't more than probably twenty minutes, TWC's Mike Bettes arrived on the scene and we all saw the destruction first hand.

Well...

From what I remember... TWC went live, then national and international stations jumped on the story within the hour and it was a huge mess of confusion because no one knew what was happening.

One thing I personally remember and feeling anxious about was CNN's coverage. After posting in the thread, reading online articles, and watching TWC online... it took CNN what felt like hours to start to report the facts. The headline was "BREAKING NEWS: TORNADO SLAMS JOPLIN, MISSOURI" and they reiterated over and over that no news was coming out of the city, no one knew what was going on, and affiliates were en route... even though, what I remember, TWC was already reporting facts and information was quickly becoming available on, for example, social network sites.

CNN just kept talking about how it sounded bad, no info, then they got a hold of a chaser in Joplin who was at some highway service station that was skimmed and the chaser for probably an hour continued to report his story of "somewhat moderate damage, they saw trees down" etc.

Anyone remember this? I wonder what CNN's deal was. By the time they turned off live programming for the night, they still knew next to nothing, even though other outlets were factual and up to date.

Edit, I guess I've long wondered if maybe CNN doesn't have legal ground to report other networks information or reports and they had to personally send one of their legal affiliates to the scene before they could report.I have no idea how it works. But it was a frustrating night.

I don't think anyone was really expecting that except Jeff Pitrowski (spelling incorrect; I'll never learn how to spell his name) and he wasn't expecting an EF5. If you watch Storm Chasers the TV show, they were all concentrated farther south on that day as well. The best dynamics and everything were located farther to the north though as outlines by SPC. I have looked at the radar data from 5:14 through the event and I'm pretty sure a tornado could have happened anywhere from Waco, MO to south of Galena, KS in any number of those couplets.

It was a Sunday night so it was the CNN skeleton crew on duty.

I just found this as well... In the Pitrowski video, there is scanner audio from the officers who Jeff told to 'get the sirens going' and from officers who were in the tornado.

http://www.koamtv.com/story/15926974/joplin-storm-heroes

[Hoosier]

Went back and looked at some stuff and came across the 00z SGF sounding. Pretty impressive

[JoMo]

The most important thing in Joplin's recovery happened this morning.... Wal-Mart reopened.

82% of the businesses are reopening. The foundation has been poured at the new Academy Sports store. Home Depot will reopen in January.

This is a cake:

[jhamps10]

nice, glad to see the recovery is going on strong... Getting the Walmart back is a HUGE step..

[JoMo]

nice, glad to see the recovery is going on strong... Getting the Walmart back is a HUGE step..

Yes sir, I think Wendy's, Slumberland, and Macadoodles have all opened as well. It really helps that Joplin is the shopping hub for many of the areas around here. When you have 200-300,000 people that come to shop then it gives businesses incentive to rebuild back.

One thing I forgot to include in my update was the Joplin High School lip dub that was filmed by a hollywood cameraman. The media students did the casting, setting it up etc. This is the 11th-12th grade campus at the mall. They basically give you a tour of the school including the storm shelters outside. They are planning to do one for the 9th and 10th graders as well.

[huronicane]

The most important thing in Joplin's recovery happened this morning.... Wal-Mart reopened.

82% of the businesses are reopening. The foundation has been poured at the new Academy Sports store. Home Depot will reopen in January.

Home Depot's temporary store has been open for a couple months, right?

[jhamps10]

Yes sir, I think Wendy's, Slumberland, and Macadoodles have all opened as well. It really helps that Joplin is the shopping hub for many of the areas around here. When you have 200-300,000 people that come to shop then it gives businesses incentive to rebuild back.

One thing I forgot to include in my update was the Joplin High School lip dub that was filmed by a hollywood cameraman. The media students did the casting, setting it up etc. This is the 11th-12th grade campus at the mall. They basically give you a tour of the school including the storm shelters outside. They are planning to do one for the 9th and 10th graders as well.

ya, that is a BIG incentive to rebuild as fast as possible, I'm just in awe seeing how things are coming back as fast as they are, it's still a LONG road to go, but y'all have really started getting back on your feet a lot quicker than I expected actually..

[JoMo]

Home Depot's temporary store has been open for a couple months, right?

Yeah the temporary 60,000 sq ft store opened June 20th I believe.

ya, that is a BIG incentive to rebuild as fast as possible, I'm just in awe seeing how things are coming back as fast as they are, it's still a LONG road to go, but y'all have really started getting back on your feet a lot quicker than I expected actually..

There's still some of areas that look like crap, or haven't been repaired or torn down in some of the really old neighborhoods.

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People are still reuniting tornado pets with their families as well. Mostly cats, they have survived 5 months on their own.

Whirley

http://www.lifewithc...t-with-his-dad/

And Cranberry was just reunited with her family. Cranberry is special because she somehow survived 5 months and she has no teeth.

-----------------------------------------------------------

EDIT:

And I also forgot to mention, St. Johns will start deconstructing the hospital in January. No implosion due to possible mine shafts. The new hospital just got the zoning changes needed to build. They want to build an 8 story hospital and a 5 story clinic complete with doctors offices inside. They also hope to build a behavioral health center and rehab center. They may give some of the old land to Joplin schools to rebuild Irving Elementary. They also may give some to Stained Glass theater and some to the City of Joplin to build a memorial.

[JoMo]

Dude's Daylight Donuts is hopefully going to reopen next week.

This is what it looked like after the tornado...Love the caption: "Well, this is a minor setback"

The 10 for Joplin Habitat for Humanity got the volunteers they were looking for and the houses are expected to be finished by Nov 19th.

Also, building permits are up, and 440 apartments are under permit. 800 units were left uninhabitable after the tornado.

There has been some controversy with MHDC (missouri low income/affordable housing) and outside developers wanting to build affordable housing in neighborhoods that are building expensive houses. People don't want those kind of houses built where the property value will be lowered.

The somewhat strange advertisement for the 6 month ceremony/memorial at Cunningham Park.92,314 registered volunteers have worked 528,242 hours. It is estimated that overall volunteers both registered and unregistered is pushing 250,000 people.

EDIT: Death toll revised down to 161.

[greg ralls]

The video itself was good, but the weird reverb effect put on the guy's voice was odd and seemed almost kind of hokey.

[JoMo]

Couple of stories the Joplin Globe has had recently.

You all probably remember the Hope High School sign:

The Superintendent wants to basically rename Irving Elementary (which was destroyed in the tornado) to Hope Elementary when it gets rebuilt on the land that St. Johns hospital currently occupies. The article mentions who put the duct tape on there and why they did it.

http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/x811211715/Superintendent-wants-to-name-school-after-iconic-HOPE-sign

And who could forget the cross at St. Marys church?

The cross is going to be taken up so they can secure it back down again in the same spot. They are going to level out the area, plant grass and then place benches so people can go there to pray if they want to but the church and school will likely be built bigger and on different land. Empire District Electric has acquired some of the churches previous land to extend their substation.

http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/x185148236/St-Mary-s-cross-to-be-preserved

[JoMo]

Joplin Police officer Gabe Allen got a Christmas Makeover tonight courtesy of The Weather Channel and their Epic Christmas contest. He's in the top 3 finalists.

http://www.weather.c...abe-allen-22192

Joplin Globe story:

http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/x1295771765/Joplin-police-officer-recognized-for-heroic-efforts-on-May-22

Also, Joplin is reporting that nearly half (48%) of the housing affected by the tornado has filed to be rebuilt, repaired, or newly constructed so far.