Devastating tornado strikes Joplin, Missouri

[JoMo]

I'm getting around to reading the 1 year Joplin Metro magazine articles now. I just read the articles about the immediate response from our fire/police/public works/city manager. Since the articles aren't online, I've written about them here:

Fire Chief Mitch Randles and City Manager Mark Rohr met at around the 2400 block of Main right after the tornado. Rohr spotted two police officers and got them to relay to dispatch to get all the department heads to the EOC (emergency operations center), Rohr and Randles then started rescuing people in the area but decided he (Rohr) should go to the EOC to develop a plan. He asked city workers to call all surrounding towns for help and he assigned the police department to send two officers to tour and list the damage. He doesn't remember much between 6:30 and 9:30 PM. His command staff arranged a helicopter to take him up so he could survey the damage area and at 9:30 a Tulsa helicopter with night vision arrived and he was in shock when he saw the extent of the damage.

The public works directors got their crews to work clearing the streets and requested help from surrounding towns and cities. They helped the utility companies coordinate their work, and found them radios so they could communicate with each other. The police chief found that his officers had already put to work their emergency response training. Instead of trying to manage the devastation as one, they had divided into four quadrants and set up operations in each quadrants. Public works, and private contractors (ordinary citizens) who came to help got the roads cleared really quickly which enabled emergency responders access to the hardest hit areas.

Joplin employed a unified command from the start, they got all the department heads together and made a decision as a group. Not one person, or one group stood up and said 'I'm in charge'. When the governor arrived, he didn't take control, he made it clear that he was here to support the city leaders, the Missouri Highway Patrol didn't take over, they also made it clear they were here to support the leaders as well. At one point, the St. Louis County police chief was out directing traffic because one of the Joplin corporals asked him for help.

Joplin had full control the first 72 hours, which is the crucial time in a disaster. The State and Federal people that arrived never asked for the control to be removed from the local government. One of the key factors in Joplin's recovery has been that government officials have allowed the community to rebuild itself.

The Joplin Police Department learned from Hurricane Katrina that there needs to be law and order. Instead of the police department doing search and rescue, they made the decision to support search and rescue but they, themselves would not be search and rescue.

Joplin's public information officer, as well as Springfield, MO's public information officers and several state and federal public information officers created a joint information center to immediately distribute information to the public. That was something they had never thought of doing before and it worked out really well.

MSSU (local college) became a Red Cross shelter and triage center. Due to the tornado and all the open pipes to peoples houses that were shooting water out, the campus had low water pressure. The staff solved that problem by pulling water out of the swimming pool in 55 gallon rubber Brutes and transferring it to the different buildings and using that water to flush the toilets. They created a bus system that would haul more than 4,000 volunteers daily from the campus to the tornado zone.

On the communication side, due to the loss of several cell phone towers, it was difficult getting voice communication in the tornado zone, but text messages did work. There were hundreds of agencies here using a variety of communication systems. everyone from different fire, police departments, etc. They found they could create a relay system by placing a dispatcher in each facility that could communicate with the other dispatchers, effectively tying all the communications systems together.

[JoMo]

Got some new pics, and updates:

-68% of the houses and apartments damaged or destroyed are under permit or rebuilt.

-85% of the businesses affected have reopened or relocated to somewhere in the city, 25 new businesses have opened up.

-About 1/2 the families living in the FEMA housing have returned to more permanent homes.

-Corporate sponsorship for Home Building projects will be announced soon from Rebuild Joplin. I understand Toyota has a "major" announcement.

I'm seeing the sunflowers bloom in places again this year. They weren't there before the tornado but I guess the tornado carried seeds or something.

There was a tree here, it was destroyed in the tornado but it decided to come back. I took a pic of it in August of last year, I figured it would die.

I was wrong: (notice the regrowth of houses behind it )

St. Paul's church continues to come along nicely and the exterior with probably be finished in another month or so.

St. John's has been fully gutted. You can now see through both towers. They pushed the insides out the windows and are sorting it so it can be recycled. They hope to have it completely finished by September. You can see more construction going on in the foreground:

[HurricaneJosh]

It's cool to see Joplin bouncing back like this. It's really a model of disaster recovery. As Californians, we were not in any way affected by this disaster. But I think as Americans we're all proud to see the federal government-- and federal taxpayer dollars-- going toward such a noble and worthy causes: rebuilding American communities and infrastructure. I think this is a good illustration of the federal system at work: we're here to support each other and pick each other up in times of need.

[WxFreak11]

Ditto what Josh said. I've been following this whole story since we all were worried if JoMo was okay during the storm that day. I've continue to follow Jomo's thread here and it's truly amazing the progress Joplin has had since the tornado took part of that city off the map. Such a testament to that city and it's people for getting done what needed to be done even though it was so much easier to give in to despair with the overwhelming task they had at hand. I would love to visit someday because there are some truly remarkable people there. They should all be so very proud of the fine example they have established for how disaster recovery should be handled. Bravo Joplin!

[HurricaneJosh]

Ditto what Josh said. I've been following this whole story since we all were worried if JoMo was okay during the storm that day. I've continue to follow Jomo's thread here and it's truly amazing the progress Joplin has had since the tornado took part of that city off the map. Such a testament to that city and it's people for getting done what needed to be done even though it was so much easier to give in to despair with the overwhelming task they had at hand. I would love to visit someday because there are some truly remarkable people there. They should all be so very proud of the fine example they have established for how disaster recovery should be handled. Bravo Joplin!

Thank you-- but to be clear, I had equal praise for our federal disaster response. The people of Joplin deserve credit-- and so, too, does our federal government and this application of our federal tax dollars. It is a win all around.

[WxFreak11]

Thank you-- but to be clear, I had equal praise for our federal disaster response. The people of Joplin deserve credit-- and so, too, does our federal government and this application of our federal tax dollars. It is a win all around.

Agreed Josh.

[HurricaneJosh]

Agreed Josh.

[JoMo]

Construction has surpassed $635 million in building permits since the tornado. This figure includes the $269.4 million permit for the new Mercy Hospital but does not include the $185 million in estimated reconstruction of the Joplin School District.

http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/x138780007/Construction-surpasses-635-million-since-tornado

Pic of the Verona, MO corn maze this year.

https://www.facebook.com/VeronaCornMaze

The Kansas City Chiefs were in town helping rebuild houses with Habitat for Humanity as part of the Governor's Challenge.

http://www.kcchiefs.com/news/article-2/Chiefs-find-hope-progress-in-return-trip-to-Joplin/832ae025-8d40-4336-acd7-b5aea9aaf2b4

Two Joplin Parks have been closed due to high lead and cadmium levels after the tornado. New soil will have to be brought in. This gives the city time to repair the parks as well.

http://www.koamtv.com/story/18802438/two-joplin-parks-close-due-to-lead-contamination

A lot of homeowners are opting to get storm shelters or rebuild with basements after the tornado.

http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/x1291711106/Joplin-homeowners-opting-for-safety-during-rebuilding

The couple in the first part of this story lost at least 10 neighbors. This is their street 10 days after the tornado

More large aerial pics can be found at: http://xpda.com/joplinTornado/

[JoMo]

Google is updating their street view of Joplin, which makes me kind of sad since there is no possible way I can save all the before images from the tornado zone. I kind of relied on Google Maps to go back and see where something was or what it looked like before.

It's also pretty amazing seeing how quickly mother nature has reclaimed the land where people aren't rebuilding. You would have assumed there had never been buildings there based on the overgrowth of weeds/grass. It just looks like a field in places where the foundations have been removed, I wasn't really expecting that to happen so quickly.

This was the Elks Lodge (other one was leveled) on Halloween of last year, they were just digging out where it would be:

And Friday June 22nd of this year:

This was a street at the 6 month mark after the tornado:

Same neighborhood at the 13 month mark (notice how it's filling in?) Many of the people here have moved back into their homes.

Someone recently uploaded a video that was an hour after the tornado moved through. At about 1:55 she gasps as she realizes that's a car wrapped around that pole. They are walking north on either Wall or Joplin street until they get to 26th.

[JoMo]

Chelsea Clinton's story finally aired on NBC Nightly News.

About Liz's Cupcake shop coming back

http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/grand-re-opening-for-joplin-businesses/67nkqo7

Interview with city manager Mark Rohr.

http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/the-spirit-of-joplin-a-can-do-attitude/6kkgi73

The new St. Johns (Mercy) sounds like it's going to be pretty badass.

http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/x2004646062/Mercy-Hospital-Joplin-being-built-to-weather-another-EF-5

*The central utility plant will be away from the hospital. It will be beefed up with a hardened exterior,” Meuschke said. “It will house the emergency equipment and generators.

*Two of the new hospital’s nine floors also will be underground. That will include 14 operating rooms, shielded by concrete walls on three sides and the full length of the hospital on the fourth side.

The lower floors will serve as evacuation areas for the hospital. In the above-ground floors, safe zones with heavy-duty metal doors will be included.

*About 75 men and women, mostly from the Joplin area, are working at the site. The number will grow to a peak of 600 people in the summer of 2014.

[JoMo]

Feel Good story of the Day:

Bootsie, the beloved cat of Mr. Harris, which had been missing since the May 22nd tornado, was found last month and they were reunited over a year after the tornado. Never give up hope.

http://www.joplinglobe.com/topstories/x694484569/Cat-lost-in-May-22-tornado-reunited-with-owner

“That’s the first time in my life — I’d always heard the term but never experienced it — that I wept for joy,” Harris said.

*“I’d given up,” he said. “About 10 months I kept my hopes high, but I thought, ‘Well, he’s gone.’”

At the end of June, Harris got a phone call from someone at the shelter, telling him Bootsie had been found and brought in. A moment of disbelief was quickly washed away by happiness, Harris said.

“I was just ecstatic,” he said. “It’s the best news I’d had in years and years.”

Lysa Buehler, the shelter manager, said Bootsie had been found near 32nd Street and Grand Avenue. He wasn’t very happy, but he was in “pretty good shape,” which she said indicates that he had likely been living somewhere and being fed regularly. He was still wearing his identification tags, which is how staff were able to match him back up with Harris.

Harris said he was concerned that his cat wouldn’t remember him. Bootsie had always been a finicky feline, preferring Harris’ company over anyone else’s, he said. He hoped that the year hadn’t changed his cat too much, and he found he needn’t have worried.

“He loved me to death,” he said. “He couldn’t get enough loving.”

Harris said Bootsie has adjusted “very well” to being back home in the week since he was found. He’s scared of everyone but his owner, who won’t let him go outside without a leash, but he otherwise seems happy and healthy, Harris said.

[WEATHER53]

How do you personally hang in there?

There is so much widespread complete destruction that getting back to "way it used to be" seems really difficult?

[JoMo]

How do you personally hang in there?

There is so much widespread complete destruction that getting back to "way it used to be" seems really difficult?

You get used to it. It becomes the new normal. 20th street is really depressing since it is a wasteland so you avoid that area, lol. Mother nature has taken over most areas and grown back. It's quite shocking to see places where there were pieces of homes still standing last September (before they were bulldozed), and now it's completely grown over as if a home was never there. Seeing all the rebuilding is a positive step as well.

Plus, you have to look to the future and what can be. The city hired Wallace-Bajjali as the master developer last week, this week they announced the projects they are looking to fund. They want to fund/build a lot of housing, a performing arts center, a convention center, a miinor league ballpark, a senior housing complex, an education complex, medical office buildings, a government office building and some others I'm forgetting but over $800 million in total projects.

Always have to be looking forward

[andyhb]

I just hope Joplin doesn't have to deal with another tornadic event any time soon (ala Tuscaloosa, Yazoo City or Moore)...that would be absolute hell on the residents of town.

[JoMo]

Demolition of the St. Johns hospital tower structures has started late today. It'll take a few weeks to take down both the towers. The debris is being used for backfill and to plug up a giant mine on the north side of town.

[JoMo]

Google Maps has updated their satellite photos. You can still see the faint scar across Joplin but it's not as pronounced as the previous satellite image. You can also see all the rebuilding. The images are a month or two old.

Well today was supposed to be the day that St. Johns was to finally be brought down completely. It didn't happen. Despite being banged on for 4 hours by a wrecking ball, the old girl just didn't want to go down without a fight. A small section of the original building still stands with the newer east tower still standing in the background.

The Joplin School bonds sold in less than an hour and a half.

http://www.joplinglo...ds-sell-quickly

Volunteers are working to save all the trees that were planted from the ongoing drought.

http://www.ky3.com/n...0,1920759.story

A volunteer from Arizona came back... Inspiring:

http://azstarnet.com...86a8e141e1.html

[JoMo]

Schools are back in session today. Year 2 of the temporary schools. Superintendent Dr. Huff went around and took pics with each one of the kindergartners like he has every year.

http://fourstateshom...t?nxd_id=309422

Another cat was found and reunited with it's owner. 1 year, 3 months after the tornado.

http://www.koamtv.co...-with-its-owner

This video was just uploaded a few days ago. The last part has cussing. It's interesting to hear the demeanor change from laughing early on to "oh s***" at the end. At one point he talks to someone who is probably his neighbor who says 'i'll believe it when i see it'. You can see power flashes in the distance around this time, and he says 'crap' and notices rotation. A short time later after he goes back inside you can hear the rumbling of the tornado and he sees it.

Also, the only thing left of St. John's hospital is the East Tower.

Photo by Michelle M Short:

[andyhb]

This video was just uploaded a few days ago. The last part has cussing. It's interesting to hear the demeanor change from laughing early on to "oh s***" at the end. At one point he talks to someone who is probably his neighbor who says 'i'll believe it when i see it'. You can see power flashes in the distance around this time, and he says 'crap' and notices rotation. A short time later after he goes back inside you can hear the rumbling of the tornado and he sees it.

[JoMo]

FINALLY! This was the video I had been looking for since I saw it last year. It does have cussing, primarily because it's pretty much raw emotion to what they are seeing. When I first saw it all, I pretty much felt the exact same way minus the freaking out. They turn left from Maiden Lane on to 26th street. At around 42 seconds or so they make it over a small hill on 26th, after that, they can see nothing but destruction on both sides of the street for as far as the eye can see.

[Huffwx]

FINALLY! This was the video I had been looking for since I saw it last year. It does have cussing, primarily because it's pretty much raw emotion to what they are seeing. When I first saw it all, I pretty much felt the exact same way minus the freaking out. They turn left from Maiden Lane on to 26th street. At around 42 seconds or so they make it over a small hill on 26th, after that, they can see nothing but destruction on both sides of the street for as far as the eye can see.

Horrific. I recall something from Andrew that was on that par--

[Ground Scouring]

After observing the circumstances surrounding the most recent tornado outbreaks, particularly since 2007, I would venture that technology has to some degree nullified the sense of danger and uncertainty surrounding tornadoes. During large, intense, urban events up until the mid-2000s, instantaneous communication features such as those equipped with cellular apps were nearly non-existant, so in my view tornadoes were seen less as something accessible, something to be watched for thrill or interest, than as something beyond the limits of observation and knowledge...hence, something to be avoided. Thus death tolls were low, the cut-off being 45 or less, à la Jackson, MS, 03/03/1966; Topeka, KS, 06/08/1966; Lubbock, TX, 05/11/1970; the 1974 Super Outbreak tornadoes at Xenia, OH, and Huntsville, AL (the latter after 9:30 p.m. local time and illuminated only by vivid lightning); Wichita Falls, TX, 05/10/1979; Barneveld, WI, 06/08/1984 (also at night); and the 1990s events at Andover, KS, in 1991, Pleasant Grove, AL, in 1998, and Oklahoma City, OK, in 1999—most of which were well-warned events even back in the late 1960s and particularly during the 04/03/1974 Super Outbreak.

Certainly, large events like OKC of 05/03/1999 were well-publicized by national media and storm-chaser footage or home video, but such were really not made accessible to a wider audience until about after 2005. To me, the Greensburg, KS, tornado of 05/04/2007 seemed to mark a divergence from the recent past in that footage of actual tornadoes since then has become more widely broadcast, and more frequently, whereas only a relative handful of notable events before 2007 were filmed in such a manner...usually because they hit one of the top major metro areas (OKC 1999), occurred on a day marked by notable severe wx (the Super Outbreak tornadoes like that at Xenia), or caused notable death or destruction and/or did so in an area outside the traditional Plains alley (Worcester, MA, 06/09/1953, as an example of huge death toll [94] / odd location, Udall, KS, 05/25/1955, of death toll, and Topeka 1966 of then-record monetary losses).

During such a period, myths about tornado morphology...the famous underpass shelter myth as in KS on 04/26/1991, the myth of hypersonic wind speeds, etc....did occur, but such random knowledge tended not to be amplified or spread by Internet chatter or modern communications, which could more easily erode the evolutionary fight-or-flight danger instinct, make tornadoes a source of thrill rather than danger, and also, by breaking down barriers between rural and urban communities, allow common public misperceptions, and the errors of media misinformation, to spread.

In the past, say, a community’s word-of-mouth belief that tornadoes seem to strike just around, not in, the community based upon historical experience, and that therefore the community is protected...but that belief was never really communicated beyond a small group of people, particularly if they lived in such small places like Hackleburg, AL, or Joplin, MO. And anyway, such beliefs are localisms, unlike misinformation about tornado watches vs. warnings, tornadoes vs. downbursts or microbursts, etc....which may more readily spread among widely different and dispersed communities in an age of boundless communications, iPhones, and chatter.

My idea is that some major changes have occurred since the late 1990s that have greatly accelerated since 2005, and which were only tested since 2007—when violent tornado activity and bigger/urban outbreaks really picked up—as most of the 2000s were a “low”-activity period in terms of big outbreaks, F4-F5 tornadoes, and big urban tornado activity:

• Communications industries, due to deregulations in the 1980s and 1990s, began establishing a wider range of network services that increasingly served rural as well as urban areas, thereby breaking down the communications barrier between rural and urban U.S.;
  
• The communications revolution, in turn, combined with the rise of urban demographics to allow rural residents to better pursue careers linked to those of their urbanized, service-sector counterparts;
  
• The cultural division between urban, media- and service-driven and rural, manufacturing- and communally-based areas weakened, opening the latter up to media and other societal networks;
  
• Social mobility and sociability increased exponentially, particularly after 2005 due to innovations in digital communications.
  

I noticed that during the 02/05/2008 and 04/27/2011 outbreaks, as well as during the Greensburg and Joplin, MO, 05/22/2011, tornadoes, many people who were interviewed after the tornado indicated they were using digital devices to speak to people...or were using them to check up on their families...as the tornadoes approached. Also, a lot of people seemed to be driving or were out in the streets, either filming the tornado or going to help/warn neighbors...often while relying on mobile communications...even in traditionally insular communities like Joplin or those in rural Alabama, which in the past often sought shelter first and assisted afterward. While warning fatigue, poor construction of shelters, bad visibility, or pure bad luck might have played a role in some of the many 2011 deaths, I would venture that an increasingly publicized, wired, and all-too-complacent, or less cautious, ethos has taken place in much of rural America, which in many ways is now much more urban than it was just ten years ago.

Any thoughts? It’s great to be posting again.

[andyhb]

Thus death tolls were low, the cut-off being 45 or less, à la Jackson, MS, 03/03/1966

Candlestick Park tornado killed 57, just FYI.

[Ground Scouring]

Candlestick Park tornado killed 57, just FYI.

You are certainly right...my memory is somewhat rusty, having been preoccupied with other things besides weather recently.

Anyway, do you believe the rest of my post is valid or based upon a spurious guess?

[andyhb]

I do think the communication may lead to a false sense of security in a way, although I think people's overall idea that "It'll never happen to me" seems to override all other factors in many of these cases.

[JoMo]

You are certainly right...my memory is somewhat rusty, having been preoccupied with other things besides weather recently.

Anyway, do you believe the rest of my post is valid or based upon a spurious guess?

There's a very real "it can't happen to me" feeling that goes through you when a tornado is near. I experienced it despite all the evidence indicating that there was probably a tornado being produced from this storm. After seeing the couplet on the radar and the storm being directly west of me moving east, my first thoughts were that it was elevated rotation and not really on the ground. My second thoughts were that it was weak, not because it really was but because I wanted it to be. After hearing the rumbling and the wind, I was almost certain that it was a weak tornado that had passed directly over me because there wasn't enough damage produced, trees were still standing, and the only evidence I initially saw was the debris in the neighborhood which looked like about what you'd get during a thunderstorm anyway.But little did I know at the time that less than 3 blocks away was destroyed by the tornado. I really lucked out though and a last minute dip south of the storm may have saved my life.

I think more people would have taken the threat more seriously if the tornado had been on the ground farther west. If people hear there's a tornado on the ground(via media, friends and family) in Riverton, KS or areas farther west then they would have been better informed or prepared. The fact that it dropped down so close to town is one factor as to why people probably didn't take it as seriously as they should have.

I know the local TV Station showing the tornado as it was on the ground made people take it seriously because they had visible evidence of a tornado on the ground. Someone told me they were outside playing basketball with some neighbors, and one of their neighbors came outside and told them that there was a tornado approaching because they saw it on TV. Those people were able to get into their basements and houses and were all basically unharmed despite the tornado destroying their homes.

The media did mess up though due to public reports. One of the radio stations reported a tornado at 7th and Rangeline which caused people who were driving to flee south directly into the actual tornado path at 15-20th and Rangeline when they would have been safe if they had continued driving north past 7th street.

The tornado being wrapped in rain was another problem as it was difficult to see until it was too late because if you were facing the wrong direction the only thing you saw was a dark wall of rain and it looked nothing like the classic funnel of a tornado you see in the media. A lot of drivers probably thought this was just rain approaching.

I do get your point though that maybe 'warning fatigue' does play a part since so many tornado warnings are issued and 'nothing happens'. This helps add to the 'that kind of thing only happens to other people' thought process. You have to remember that on May 24th. 2 days after Joplin and with a high risk in Oklahoma, they took the threat more seriously because of what had happened in Joplin.

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

And to just add a short update. It looks like the hospital will be fully down by next week. There's just a small section of it left.

73% of the houses affected are either under permit, rebuilt, or rebuilding.

There's building permits for an additional 965 apartments.

[JoMo]

Tomorrow the last of St. Johns hospital will be taken down. They thought they were going to complete it today but the last part was being a bit stubborn and refused to come down. St. Johns has been a landmark in Joplin since the 1960's. It was where you could locate where you were based on where it was on the horizon, especially after the tornado. I've had a lot of friends and family in that hospital and can't say I have the best memories of that place but it served it's purpose well.

Photo from KZRG:

St. Paul's first service will be Sept 9th at their rebuilt church.

Elks Lodge will be open by Oct/Nov.

http://www.koamtv.com/story/19411862/rebuilding-underway-at-elks-lodge-destroyed-in-tornado

Restaurant Impossible is at the Joplin Boys and Girls club building something. It'll be on the show.

[Indystorm]

I wish I could give you a Pulitzer prize for web journalism for this historic thread for your outstanding documentation of this event from its inception through ongoing recovery.

[greg ralls]

I wish I could give you a Pulitzer prize for web journalism for this historic thread for your outstanding documentation of this event from its inception through ongoing recovery.

Agreed. This thread could certainly be crafted into a first-rate book of the disaster from the perspective of a resident.

[JoMo]

After having technical difficulties yesterday, the last piece of St. Johns was brought down today at about 4:35 local time. It looks so weird and empty. I'll try to get some pic comparisons from when I took the pic right before they started demolishing and now that it's gone from the horizon.

9 story hospital used to be here:

Photo from KZRG:

And here it was after the tornado:

Vid of the last portion going down from Joplin Globe.

I found this video the other day, it was posted on Aug 30th. The guy says he was in his Chevy Blazer parked at St. Johns during the tornado. You can clearly see the extreme winds early on in the vid.

*WARNING* This vid has very strong language.

[Stebo]

I found this a few days back and forgot to post it. Someone on youtube uploaded the entire National Geographic Witness episode about the Joplin tornado in 3 parts.

Part 1

http://youtu.be/qI6IoV1ruZA

Part 2

http://youtu.be/hKuX4kTCHtg

Part 3

http://youtu.be/5jy_lZGFZDI

A really good collection of videos and first hand accounts.