Devastating tornado strikes Joplin, Missouri

[JoMo]

Is that next to the park the tv show built?

yep, Cunningham Pool on the N side of the park.

Small pic of it after the tornado.

[JoMo]

To go with the whole Easter Theme...... Rise, Neighborhood, Rise!

This is what it looked like before the tornado:

This is in August, 3 months after the tornado, notice how empty it looks:

And Fri, April 6th 2012:

Geese making their migration back north. These geese think that's a pond they are by, when in fact, it's where a house used to be and the foundation was dug out and water collected in the hole.

[JoMo]

KZRG photos of the new St. Johns (Mercy) component hospital. This is the hospital until the real one is built by 2015.

The proposed new hospital layout:

[JoMo]

Here's a story that ran a few days ago. It examines Joplin vs Tuscaloosa recovery and how Joplin is using local business and relaxed regulations and restrictions vs Tuscaloosa's regulations and waiting on FEMA:

"

The reason for Joplin's successes and Tuscaloosa's shortcomings? In Tuscaloosa, officials sought to remake the urban landscape top-down, imposing a redevelopment plan on businesses. Joplin took a bottom-up approach, allowing businesses to take the lead in recovery."

The Alabama city's recovery plan, "Tuscaloosa Forward," is indeed state-of-the-art urban planning—and that's the crux of the problem. It sets out to "courageously create a showpiece" of "unique neighborhoods that are healthy, safe, accessible, connected, and sustainable," all anchored by "village centers" for shopping (in a local economy that struggles to sustain current shopping centers). Another goal is to "preserve neighborhood character" from a "disproportionate ratio of renters to owners." The plan never mentions protecting property rights.

In Joplin, the official plan not only makes property rights a priority but clocks in at only 21 pages, compared with Tuscaloosa's 128. Joplin's plan also relied heavily on input from businesses (including through a Citizen's Advisory Recovery Team) instead of Tuscaloosa's reliance on outside consulting firms. "We need to say to our businesses, community, and to our citizens, 'If you guys want to rebuild your houses, we'll do everything we can to make it happen,'" said Joplin City Council member William Scearce in an interview.

http://online.wsj.co...=googlenews_wsj

[JoMo]

Cal Ripken Jr was in town today with Energizer to work on a Habitat House. They donated $10,000 to the local Habitat for Humanity. Photo from KZRG:

More than $311 million in building permits have been issued since the tornado:

http://www.joplinglo...-Joplin-tornado

Video of some of the 18 homes Convoy of Hope is rebuilding in Joplin. These are using the insulated concrete forms where the house is made out of concrete poured into these forms so it's more 'tornado resistant'.

And finally, this video is the best I have found that shows what Joplin looks like as of probably a month or so ago. These people take a drive down where the tornado impacted and show the emptiness and the rebuilding. Keep in mind that this area was full of trees and buildings and houses.

[mappy]

The Cal Ripken story was on the news last night up here in MD and on the radio this morning

http://www.wbal.com/article/88925/3/template-story/Ripken-Helping-Tornado-Victims

[JoMo]

I know someone was asking about the May 22nd plans here in Joplin. This article should answer some of those, everyone is invited.

http://www.joplinglobe.com/tornadomay2011/x1774443364/Memorial-walk-to-mark-one-year-of-unity-after-Joplin-tornado

Also, Chelsea Clinton was at the high school today, she's doing a story for NBC Nightly News. I don't know when it will air.

[JoMo]

NBC Nightly News will air a special segment on Joplin on Monday Night's newscast. They were at the Joplin Prom tonight as well. Over 50 local and National Sponsors helped put the prom together. The first prom since the tornado.

http://www.joplinglobe.com/topstories/x1865824808/Students-enjoy-enchanted-evening-at-Joplin-prom

One girl didn't get to go to prom since she's in the hospital with a rare respiratory infection caused by the tornado. The nurses at Cox South in Springfield donated their time and money and transformed a wing of the pediatric ward into a prom for her. Several of her friends from Joplin went up and helped her celebrate.

http://www.ky3.com/news/ky3-cox-south-nurses-create-prom-dance-in-pediatric-ward-20120421,0,3480093.story

Weather Radios for Duquesne should arrive before long:

http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/x1774446550/Officials-say-Duquesne-weather-radios-should-arrive-soon

[codfishsnowman]

Jeff Piotrowskii's video and the aftermath as the pulled up at 20th and Iowa. The new footage begins at 3:50 or so. Not sure why there's a slowdown. At around 4:40 you see the remains of Franklin Tech.

No matter how many times I watch this video I get chills up and down my spine!

This is about as frightening as anything I have ever watched on recorded media, whatever anyone wants to say about whether he had the right terminology or anything else ( some of the posts on here seem unbelievably petty!)

This guy took an AMAZING video and he deserves serious credit for watching the weather closely and knowing almost four hours earlier that this was going to be the hot zone. Furthermore he went right down to the area where the big tornado was imminent and he knew that as well, he really deserves major accolades.

In my neck of the woods most of the experts love to beat up on the HRRR model but the fact that this model had the extreme helicity over sw Mo. is also noteworthy and something Tornado experts should be studying in detail.

[JoMo]

No matter how many times I watch this video I get chills up and down my spine!

This is about as frightening as anything I have ever watched on recorded media, whatever anyone wants to say about whether he had the right terminology or anything else ( some of the posts on here seem unbelievably petty!)

This guy took an AMAZING video and he deserves serious credit for watching the weather closely and knowing almost four hours earlier that this was going to be the hot zone. Furthermore he went right down to the area where the big tornado was imminent and he knew that as well, he really deserves major accolades.

In my neck of the woods most of the experts love to beat up on the HRRR model but the fact that this model had the extreme helicity over sw Mo. is also noteworthy and something Tornado experts should be studying in detail.

Jeff has been storm chasing for like 35 years. On his Joplin DVD, it shows them following the parent supercell across KS into MO (which was north of Joplin) and it was pretty ragged and not producing much so they went farther south. They also followed just behind the tornado until they couldn't go any farther due to damage, it was then they pulled down Iowa street and started search and rescue.

On the vid, they black part of it out when he is pulling someone from a house, and there's another part where a lady comes and tells him that 'there's a dead man over there'. He tells her he knows and that there's nothing they can do for him, they just have to help the survivors. He was also making phone calls to the Tulsa NWS to tell them to relay information and get as much help to Joplin as possible. When help doesn't arrive, they go and look for help and find a Carthage Fire Department truck down the road, and they bring them back down that street to start search and rescue farther down the block.

Despite it being 11 months since the tornado I still remember it like it was yesterday.

The HRRR did really well on this day. It doesn't always get things right though. I remember I was looking at it before the tornado and saw that it was developing additional storms across SE KS, NE OK. I thought at the time, these storms would interefere with the big main supercell so I expected a 'cluster' of thunderstorms with high winds, hail and heavy rain. I actually felt a bit better when I saw those additional cells developing on the HRRR. Nothing really different from what we get all the time anyway. I went outside and started moving some of the lawn ornaments and stuff up closer to the house so they wouldn't blow away or get damaged. I never really expected the tornado though. In fact, just 10 days earlier on May 12th there was a storm that showed signs of rotation just west of here. I actually saw it but it was elevated and it had the look of a mesocyclone that was collapsing. It didn't produce anything as it moved to basically the NW of Joplin.

I did notice one thing that did freak me out though on the HRRR other than the crazy helicity, both the LFC and LCL height was the same and it was very low in a very localized area along I-44 from Joplin on a bit northeast. This meant that pretty much any storm would be surface based and low to the ground.

Once the parent supercell that had been in SE KS produced an outflow boundary, and the new strong updrafts in NE OK/SE KS latched on, Joplin's goose was cooked.

[codfishsnowman]

Jeff has been storm chasing for like 35 years. On his Joplin DVD, it shows them following the parent supercell across KS into MO (which was north of Joplin) and it was pretty ragged and not producing much so they went farther south. They also followed just behind the tornado until they couldn't go any farther due to damage, it was then they pulled down Iowa street and started search and rescue.

On the vid, they black part of it out when he is pulling someone from a house, and there's another part where a lady comes and tells him that 'there's a dead man over there'. He tells her he knows and that there's nothing they can do for him, they just have to help the survivors. He was also making phone calls to the Tulsa NWS to tell them to relay information and get as much help to Joplin as possible. When help doesn't arrive, they go and look for help and find a Carthage Fire Department truck down the road, and they bring them back down that street to start search and rescue farther down the block.

Despite it being 11 months since the tornado I still remember it like it was yesterday.

The HRRR did really well on this day. It doesn't always get things right though. I remember I was looking at it before the tornado and saw that it was developing additional storms across SE KS, NE OK. I thought at the time, these storms would interefere with the big main supercell so I expected a 'cluster' of thunderstorms with high winds, hail and heavy rain. I actually felt a bit better when I saw those additional cells developing on the HRRR. Nothing really different from what we get all the time anyway. I went outside and started moving some of the lawn ornaments and stuff up closer to the house so they wouldn't blow away or get damaged. I never really expected the tornado though. In fact, just 10 days earlier on May 12th there was a storm that showed signs of rotation just west of here. I actually saw it but it was elevated and it had the look of a mesocyclone that was collapsing. It didn't produce anything as it moved to basically the NW of Joplin.

I did notice one thing that did freak me out though on the HRRR other than the crazy helicity, both the LFC and LCL height was the same and it was very low in a very localized area along I-44 from Joplin on a bit northeast. This meant that pretty much any storm would be surface based and low to the ground.

Once the parent supercell that had been in SE KS produced an outflow boundary, and the new strong updrafts in NE OK/SE KS latched on, Joplin's goose was cooked.

So some good signs were on the HRRR but not the whole package I assume. The other thing I have noticed is that sig. tornadoes have affected some portion of the Joplin metro area not only in 2011 but also in 2003 and in 1971. Three times in forty years sure seems like an awful lot. I would imagine there have been numerous other funnel clouds and a few F0s in the mix as well over the years.

[JoMo]

So some good signs were on the HRRR but not the whole package I assume. The other thing I have noticed is that sig. tornadoes have affected some portion of the Joplin metro area not only in 2011 but also in 2003 and in 1971. Three times in forty years sure seems like an awful lot. I would imagine there have been numerous other funnel clouds and a few F0s in the mix as well over the years.

There have been numerous tornadoes in the area over the years, they were even noted in the late 1800's and early 1900's as well. The Picher, OK tornado in 2008 passed just south of Joplin and would have probably been headed for Joplin if it wasn't turning right. I remember a gustnado in the late 90's that hit south Rangeline, destroyed a gas station but left the 2 liters in tact on the shelf and damaged the roof of one of the hotels. We get a lot of the overnight MCS activity from western Kansas, which typically results in a spin-up tornado threat but mostly just straight-line winds. May 22nd was by far the strongest to ever hit Joplin other than the F3 back in the 70's I believe.

The damage from the May 22nd storm was just so incredible and widespread.

[andyhb]

So some good signs were on the HRRR but not the whole package I assume. The other thing I have noticed is that sig. tornadoes have affected some portion of the Joplin metro area not only in 2011 but also in 2003 and in 1971. Three times in forty years sure seems like an awful lot. I would imagine there have been numerous other funnel clouds and a few F0s in the mix as well over the years.

Compare that to areas like the Oklahoma City, Birmingham/Tuscaloosa and Little Rock metros and it doesn't seem like a lot, although what matters is that Joplin got the big one just like Birmingham and OKC have gotten...

[codfishsnowman]

Compare that to areas like the Oklahoma City, Birmingham/Tuscaloosa and Little Rock metros and it doesn't seem like a lot, although what matters is that Joplin got the big one just like Birmingham and OKC have gotten...

Birmingham/Tuscaloosa...havent they had like multiple f4s and f5s over the years?? Dixie seems just as dangerous as Tornado Alley in the middle of the country imo.

In fact I think in one of those major cities there was a small overlap from major tornadoes last year and the year before where for a couple blocks an area that was just starting to get back on its feet from a 2010 storm got wiped out again last year. That is just insane!!

I hope the insurance companies work well with folks out there.

And another thing that really is upsetting: Homes not being able to have basements like in Joplin bc of high water table and Joplin is in a sweet spot for tornadoes, seems like going forward there has to be a way around this, engineers must be able to come up with something. Will insurance companies going forward pay for houses to have storm shelters built on the properties??

[JoMo]

And another thing that really is upsetting: Homes not being able to have basements like in Joplin bc of high water table and Joplin is in a sweet spot for tornadoes, seems like going forward there has to be a way around this, engineers must be able to come up with something. Will insurance companies going forward pay for houses to have storm shelters built on the properties??

It's a lot more costly (due to the rocky soil) and prone to flooding but there are houses with basements being built. I've seen a few basements with storm shelters built inside them as well. Also, a lot of the houses that are being built back do have storm shelters inside them if they don't have basements. It does increase the value of the house.

[JoMo]

NBC Nightly News report on the Joplin Prom. (little known fact, Brian Williams lived in Joplin and worked at KOAM, which is Joplinmet's station)

http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/47150686#47150686

The house of the cupcake woman featured in the above video is being rebuilt. She no longer lives there though.

The tornado changed the landscape forever. Before:

And today:

[JoMo]

St. Paul's started rebuilding earlier this month or maybe it was last month.

Here's St. Paul's 2 days after the tornado:

Taken Oct 21st 2011 after it was torn down:

And today:

Got to end this update with the geese. We were headed for the same area, they stopped and were acting all casual and after I crossed, they decided they'd cross behind me.

[JoMo]

A couple of hours ago I discovered that the Jasper County GIS website has updated aerial imagery of Joplin. Based on the level of demolition at the High School, I'd say this new imagery is about 1 1/2- 2 months or so old. The website has 2009 imagery, post-tornado imagery and now 2012 imagery. You can see the new construction with the 2012 imagery and toggle all 3 levels so you can see what it looked like before, right after, and now nearly a year after the tornado. I thought about screenshotting before and after pics but you lose a lot of detail when you do that and that sounds like a lot of work.

Instead, I wrote up some instructions on how to get on the website and how to view it like you would on Google Maps or Bing maps.

Step 1: Go to http://beacon.schneidercorp.com/

Step 2: Select "Missouri" in the "All States" box and then select "Jasper County, MO" in the other box on the next screen.

Step 3: Keep "Property Search" checked and press the "Enter" button.

Step 4: On this screen, Go to the "Address Search" section and type in "2426 Porter" and then the "Search>>" button right beside it. (This is city owned property right by Cunningham Park)

Step 5: Now you should see a Summary of this property, in the upper center of the screen right under the logo is a "Map" tab, click on that to take you to the map screen.

Step 6: This will take you to a zoomed in view of the address above. I would UNCHECK everything on the left except maybe "Major roads" and "Local Roads" and of course leave "2012 Aerial Photography" checked. (optionally you can check the "Tornado Destruction path" to see the path of the tornado but it puts a red film over everything)

Step 7: Zoom out a bit, and on the top of the map itself is a toolbar. The 4th button from the right says "Toggle Map Size" when you put your mouse over it. This will make the map fullscreen so you can see everything easier.

Step 8: On the fullscreen map, you can click on the ">>" on the bottom left of the screen to pull out the "Overview" which is where you unchecked mostly everything. From here you can check/uncheck the various aerial photography on the bottom of the Overview to see the before/during/after the tornado.

Personally, I check 2009 Aerial Photography, then check/uncheck 2012 aerial photography to compare what it looks like now vs what it looked like in 2009. You can scroll left or right on the map until you stop seeing damage or until you see no change in the imagery. If you get lost, you can check "Tornado Aerials" to see the damage.

[JoMo]

Mike Smith has a new book coming out about the Joplin tornado, or that has already came out called: "When the sirens were silent: How the warning system failed a community."

http://www.amazon.com/When-Sirens-Were-Silent-Smith/dp/0692017437/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335975689&sr=8-1

I hope this is just a play on words as there were 2 siren activations before the tornado, one when the first tornado warning was issued and one when the tornado was on the ground. I expect him to mention siren 'misuse'. Joplin's siren policy was/is winds greater than 75 MPH, or a tornado warning for the Joplin area. I can't remember a time (although I'm sure it happened, just not a lot), other than May 24th of last year that the sirens were sounded for 75 MPH winds though. Joplin receives a lot of tornado warnings per year. According to this graphic from Patrick Marsh, we average 3 tornado warnings per year since 2002. http://www.patricktmarsh.com/wp-content/gallery/2012images/tor_poly.png

When you get that many tornado warnings per year, many of which don't produce a tornado, people don't take the sirens as seriously as they should.

--

Joplin has put up a website about the 1 year anniversary that shows events, etc.

http://www.joplintornadoanniversary.com/

Included is a really cool (pdf) fact sheet with a ton of information about the tornado and the response.

http://www.joplintornadoanniversary.com/factsheet.php

[JoMo]

I decided I'd go ahead and put together the 3 different aerial images of some areas since I found an easy way to do it. Each animated image is around 1 meg. You can get a better view by going to the Jasper County GIS, 2 posts above.

The images are 2009, right after the tornado (last May-June), and 2012 (Feb-March).

On the left side of this image you can see the pond where Will Norton was discovered. On the far right center, the Elk's Lodge is visible. The tornado was producing EF-4 winds in this area.

This image shows St. Johns hospital in the lower left, Greenbiar Nursing home is the green roofed building(s) on the right in the center. The new EMHE houses can be seen on the last image at the top center. The tornado was producing EF-5 winds.

[JoMo]

Continuation from above:

This was a heavy residential area. Old South Middle school is visible in the upper left portion, Irving Elementary on the bottom left and Joplin High School on the upper right. The tornado continued to produce EF-5 winds.

This area had a lot of apartments, most of what is on here is apartments. Hampshire Terrace apartments can be seen just left of center with the "V" shape parking area, to the left of that was Dillions supermarket. Still producing EF-5 winds.

[JoMo]

Joplin is Jeopardy! famous as this aired last Monday:

Story about how fast the businesses have come back on Rangeline:

http://www.koamtv.com/story/18168724/nearly-a-year-after-tornado-range-line-road-businesses-make-remarkable-recovery

Story about how hard it is to find affordable rental property in Joplin after the tornado:

http://fourstateshomepage.com/fulltext?nxd_id=279402

Around 800 students from 60 Missouri High Schools came and planted trees in Joplin. They replaced an estimated 1,200 trees or 10% of what was lost in the tornado.

http://www.joplinglobe.com/topstories/x1720503022/Rooting-for-Joplin-plants-trees-throughout-city

3 Joplin tornado documentaries are finished and will be shown soon.The trailers can be found at this link:

http://www.joplinglobe.com/topstories/x1720499162/VIDEO-Joplin-tornado-focus-of-three-documentaries

[Disc]

3 Joplin tornado documentaries are finished and will be shown soon.The trailers can be found at this link:

http://www.joplinglo...e-documentaries

I would love to see these documentaries, but it looks like the only way to see them is to go to one of their viewings. Think they will release DVDs that will be able to purchased later on in the year?

[JoMo]

I would love to see these documentaries, but it looks like the only way to see them is to go to one of their viewings. Think they will release DVDs that will be able to purchased later on in the year?

I think Heartland and Joplin, Missouri hope to have DVD's available sometime in the future. Not sure about Deadline as that one really didn't interest me that much.

[JoMo]

This is an awesome story. 3 years ago (2008), Joplin came together and had a fundraiser and donations so a local rescue dog ('Unsinkable' Molly Brown) could get a much needed pacemaker. Medtronic donated the pacemaker and the rest of the money went towards vet bills and the surgery itself. Molly Brown paid Joplin back doing search and rescue for 8 days after the tornado.

http://fourstateshom...t?nxd_id=279932

I mentioned Mike Smith's new book on a previous post. This article or blog entry or whatever explains how the system failed Joplin. It mentions that the tornado was rain-wrapped, that Springfield NWS misreported the tornado location 3 times, the siren policy, and Springfield NWS issuing too many tornado warnings.

According to Smith..... over the last 4 years, the county just SW of Joplin has been hit by 2 tornadoes and had 7 tornado warnings (from Tulsa NWS), but Jasper county (the county Joplin is in) has had 2 tornadoes but 34 tornado warnings (Springfield NWS)

http://blogs.kansas....oplin-last-may/

[JoMo]

This aired on CBS News this Morning I believe.

Interview with some of the people in the gas station video, a year after the tornado.

http://www.cbsnews.c...ch/?id=7408388n

EDIT: Also the new Mercy (St. John's) modular hospital:

[JoMo]

Heads-up... The documentary... "Witness: Joplin tornado" will premiere Monday, May 21st at 9 PM (central?) on the National Geographic Channel. I think this is the series that uses actual footage from people for most of, if not, all the show.

The Gov. of Missouri is giving Joplin Schools $2.8 million for the construction of safe rooms.

http://www.koamtv.com/story/18380476/28-million-to-construct-safe-rooms-at-joplin-schools

Still trying to cut through all the red tape in order to get new street signs:

http://www.koamtv.com/story/18388407/street-signs-will-soon-be-replaced-in-tornado-damaged-areas

The local hospitals learned some important lessons from the tornado about where to store supplies, to have generators in storm hardened buildings and the new Mercy hospital (St. Johns) sounds like it will be so much more prepared:

http://www.koamtv.com/story/18382274/lessons-learned

[JoMo]

We're getting close to the 1 year mark. I've noticed a lot of people being more emotional the closer we get.

Pres. Obama will be at JHS graduation on May 21st.

Joplin City Manager Mark Rohr's new book looks like it's been released on Amazon.com. He wrote it on his days off and vacation. He talks about his experience with saving people after the disaster and having to take the leadership role and make a plan on how to deal with the disaster.

http://www.amazon.com/Joplin-Miracle-Spirit-Mark-Rohr/dp/1620247038/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1337223982&sr=1-1

Joplin School District has released the FEMA report on the schools:

http://joplin.schoolfusion.us/modules/groups/homepagefiles/cms/2035746/File/Announcements%202012/JoplinHighDraftEAFinalVersionWithCover05-10-2012.pdf

Joplin Chamber of Commerce has reported that 80% of the businesses have returned so far:

http://www.newstalkkzrg.com/Joplin-Chamber--80-Percent-Of-Businesses-Have-Retu/13144138

Lots of people now buying storm shelters:

http://www.joplinglobe.com/topstories/x41012220/Local-demand-driving-sales-of-storm-shelters

Eight people have been indicted for fraudulently receiving federal disaster benefits, there will probably be more:

http://www.koamtv.com/story/18438460/eight-defendants-indicted-for-disaster-fraud-related-to-joplin-tornado-benefits

A group decided to paint the remains of a tree near the old Dillons Supermarket location

http://www.joplinglobe.com/topstories/x41013144/-Spirit-tree-new-landmark-in-tornado-zone

Desiree Morris, the pregnant woman trapped under rubble at Dillons Supermarket wants to thank the people that helped save her life. She also wants people do be weather aware.

[JoMo]

Incredible footage of inside St. John's hospital as the tornado hit. This is from the Emergency room waiting area. The doors to outside are located in the top right. All hell breaks loose at 50 seconds.

United Arab Emirates has donated $5 million to Mercy (St. Johns) for a NICU at the new hospital.

http://www.koamtv.co...-mercy-hospital

Also an excellent look back at May 22nd 2011 by Jim Morgan D.O. EMS Medical Director

http://www.emsworld.com/article/10649563/a-state-of-chaos-the-joplin-tornado

[Hoosier]

Hard to believe it will be 1 year. I think we knew that it was serious based on the initial reports but I never imagined it would be as bad as it was.