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Devastating tornado strikes Joplin, Missouri


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I uploaded this image of St. John's hospital from roughly 1/2 mile away on Feb 13th 2012 or so. You can't see through the building so demolition had not begun yet on the exterior. This is a 9 story building.

mljthg_zpsca8569d8.jpg

This is a picture of the last section still standing:

2012-09-20_170321_zpsc2ca3793.jpg

And here it is without the hospital today, a little zoomed back so you get the horizion. It looks very different and has been hard to get used to:

2012-09-20_165938_zpsc6630565.jpg

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  • 3 weeks later...

The FEMA deadline on the temporary housing units has been expanded until June 9th 2013, it had been set to expire on Nov 9th of this year. There had been 586 households there at one time, we are now down to 157 and FEMA expects that to fall below 120 after November. Residents will be charged rent starting in December. It will be $598 for a two bedroom and $761 for a three bedroom but families can seek rent reductions based on income.

http://www.sacbee.com/2012/10/10/4897650/fema-to-keep-temporary-housing.html

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thought this was pretty cool - from www.Jayski.com this morning

Jamie McMurray Foundation to Donate Greenery for Joplin MO: The Jamie McMurray Foundation announced that it will provide the greenery for homes in Joplin, MO. The homes are being built as part of the recovery efforts in the wake of the EF5 tornado that ravaged NASCAR driver Jamie McMurray's hometown on May 22, 2011. The donation is to support Missouri Governor Jay Nixon's, Joplin Challenge with Habitat for Humanity. McMurray will donate all of the shrubs and trees that will be planted around the houses in the NASCAR neighborhood in Joplin as part of this initiative. McMurray offered his support to Gov. Nixon's Joplin Challenge when he first learned of the effort to build the 35 new homes in seven neighborhoods. Each neighborhood is assigned a sponsor among the major athletic organizations in Missouri including the following: St. Louis Blues (NHL), St. Louis Cardinals (MLB), St. Louis Rams (NFL), Kansas City Royals (MLB), Kansas City Chiefs (NFL), University of Missouri and a partnership of NASCAR Unites and Kansas Speedway.

Notes of Interest:

" The challenge, in partnership with Joplin Area Habitat for Humanity and Missouri's major athletic organizations, aims to build 35 new homes in the heart of Joplin during 2012 to provide continued aid to the city's recovery.

" Gov. Nixon's administration will provide a $3.6 million Community Development Block Grant to support construction and organizational management, as well as pave the way for future builds.

" Donations to support the Joplin Challenge can still be made by visiting www.joplinchallenge.mo.gov . The Joplin Area Habitat for Humanity is also accepting in-kind donations to help build homes in Joplin during the Governor's Joplin Challenge and beyond.

" In April NASCAR also committed through its participation in the 2012 Governor's Joplin Habitat Challenge, by donating 100 trees to be planted in conjunction with its green initiatives.(EGR)(10-18-2012)

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Thought this was pretty cool - from www.Jayski.com this morning

Yep, Jamie lived in Duquense. The house he grew up in was destroyed. The rebuilding is going exceptionally well as 79% of the dwellings damaged/destroyed by the tornado are either rebuilt or under permit. Construction permits set a record as they topped $715 million, and that's not counting the High School or any of the master development plans.

http://www.joplinglo...ce-2011-tornado

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  • 3 weeks later...

Been a bit since an update. Joplin is still recovering very well. New construction begins daily in the tornado zone. The Joplin High School site has got a lot of the groundwork started, although it was discovered that there are 6 mines on site that have to be filled. (we are an old zinc/lead mining community and Joplin is built on mines) The other schools are also in the process of being constructed as well.

Mercy Hospital (St. Johns) hosted a wildflower planting at the site of the former hospital. 800 employees and former employees of the hospital planted some 5,000 packages on 9 acres.

People are still uploading videos to youtube over a year and a half later. This was taken at 18th and Virginia, the tornado can be heard and it passed about 2-3 blocks south of this location. I'm pretty sure they mention that old myth about opening windows at the end.

Dr. Huff (school superintendent) recently appeared at the Pop! Tech conference talking about the Joplin tornado and the response for the school point of view. He's a very sensitive guy.

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  • 5 weeks later...

It's been a month or so since an update. There's still a lot of activity going on across the city, some of the new apartment complexes are springing up out of the ground and new construction is ongoing. 20th street is still pretty empty though and one of the complexes decided not to come back and it'll probably end up being the site of a Casey's General Store.

The FEMA temporary housing was down to 75 households as of a week or two ago. It cleared out quicker than they thought it would once they announced that they would be charging rent.

Habitat for Humanity has built 38 houses since the tornado and they are working on 33 more. Samaritans Purse continues their work here as well. Work on the school sites are mostly on schedule.

Progress continues at the new Mercy Hospital. They posted that they have steel up to the 6th story in some places.

Here's a photo they posted today of the construction site:

204916_389770064434050_1719662509_o.jpg

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Is the Mercy Hospital going up in the same place as St John's?

I know they are moving it to another location, mainly because they realised that if the tornado was further south, If could have possibly hit both St. John's and Freeman (the other regional hospital in the area) at the same time.

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Is the Mercy Hospital going up in the same place as St John's?

Nope, St. Johns was on 26th and Maiden Lane and the new hospital is at 50th and Main. The new site gives them access to I-44 which is seen in the picture.

Here's the vision for the old St. Johns site. Haven't heard anything about the museum but Mercy planted wildflowers at their Memorial Garden a few weeks ago. Stained Glass Theater took possession of their donated land and are working towards raising enough money to rebuild. The school is in the process of building.

download-hi-res-rendering-version-1-6363.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

http://www.earthweek.com/2012/ew121221/ew121221c.html

Researchers are warning public health officials of a potentially deadly infection that can quickly begin to kill people after deadly tornado outbreaks. Studies by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Translational Genomics Research Institute focused on the deaths from infections in the Joplin, Mo., 2011 tornado disaster zone. They found some were infected by the fungus Apophysomyces, which is common in the soil, wood or water. It usually has no effect on humans. But when it is stirred up by tornado-force winds and enters deep puncture wounds caused by debris, it can spread uncontrollably through the body if not caught early. Five of the 13 people infected with it around Joplin died within two weeks of the tornado that devastated the community. Once the infection begins to ravage the body, the only option is to surgically remove sections of dead, damaged or infected tissue, in a process known as debridement. “There's clearly an entire world out there that we're not seeing on a regular basis. It takes a severe event like this tornado for us to come face-to-face with some of the more dangerous pathogens out there,” said David Engelthaler, former State of Arizona Epidemiologist.

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yeah, his youtube channel is still active at youtube.com/will

His last video was after the Feb 1st 2011 snowstorm.

He made this video in 2009, saying he nearly died during a bad storm and that he shouldn't worry about the weather since he drives a Hummer. Tornado: 1, Hummer: 0.

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  • 1 month later...

Another monthly update:

 

The FEMA housing site is now down to 45 families. That's down from 75 in December and a peak of 586 after the tornado. FEMA started charging rent in November and it cleared out pretty quickly after that. 55 senior housing units will be opening soon which will probably lead to a further reduction in the number of people living there. 

 

 

Charity groups are still working in Joplin to rebuild homes:

 

http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/x1633467743/Joplin-family-grateful-to-guardian-angels-for-new-home

 

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/1/prweb10373304.htm

 

 

Missouri National Guard recently pulled out the last soldier it had in Joplin. It once had 377 men/women assigned to the area.

http://www.joplinglobe.com/topstories/x503834416/Missouri-National-Guard-pulls-out-last-soldier-assigned-to-help-area-after-2011-tornado

 

And yes... lots of people are still scared to death of storms...

http://ozarksfirst.com/fulltext?nxd_id=760502

 

 

A few concept renderings of the new Joplin High School and Franklin Technology Center:

 

227941_10151377307769731_277898313_n.jpg

 

530667_10151377311724731_686836194_n.jpg

 

601039_10151377308789731_1122140469_n.jp

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Joplin Globe ran a story today about the fungus and about a couple of people who impacted and where they think the fungus may have came from.

 

Fungus:


*Largest documented cluster of apophysomyces cases in the world.

*Needs to be deeply implanted into the skin to start an infection.

*Is not a human disease, so it doesn't know how to react in the human body and the body doesn't know how to fight it.

*Grows extremely rapidly.

*Possibly came from a couple of ponds early in the tornado path, since this type of fungus grows well in water. (these would be the same ponds where Will Norton's body was recovered, and it's about 1/4-1/2 mile from me)

 

 

 

Steven Weersing: 17 years old now.

 

*Chances of survival were placed at 5-10%

*Doctors cut away four ribs and part of his chest wall to stop the fungus.

*He's having a baby... his girlfriend's due date is May 22nd. 

 

Patients continue fight with rare fungus contracted after tornado

http://www.joplinglobe.com/topstories/x1633471446/Patients-continue-fight-with-rare-fungus-contracted-during-tornado

 

 

If you want to see a picture of Steven Weersing's giant chest scar mentioned in the above story:

 

http://davideulitt.com/#/joplin-tornado/portrait_joplin_tornado_scars_2

 

 

 

EDIT:As of Feb 12th.....  Joplin has crossed over the 1,003,000+ work hours mark from 160,000+ registered volunteers. 84% of the properties that were damaged or destroyed are under permit for reconstruction/repairs. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey guys. I just got done writing a blog post on the Joplin tornado, and I'd love to get some feedback on it. Between family issues and researching it ended up taking a long time, so by the end I really didn't even take the time to proofread it. I'm sure I made some mistakes. If anyone reads it and you notice anything I messed up, please don't hesitate to let me know.

 

http://stormstalker.wordpress.com/2013/02/13/joplin/

 

I tracked down some of the things people haven't really covered much -- photos of the concrete parking stops, scoured parking lots, grass scouring, etc. -- so hopefully there's some new stuff for you guys.

 

Thanks.   :thumbsup:

 

Edit: I just noticed I made a mistake with the Commerce Bank. I said it was "swept away," but the photos I used were from several days after when the cleanup had already begun in earnest. I'll fix that next time I update the article. It was completely destroyed, but most of it wasn't swept away.

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Hey guys. I just got done writing a blog post on the Joplin tornado, and I'd love to get some feedback on it. Between family issues and researching it ended up taking a long time, so by the end I really didn't even take the time to proofread it. I'm sure I made some mistakes. If anyone reads it and you notice anything I messed up, please don't hesitate to let me know.

 

http://stormstalker.wordpress.com/2013/02/13/joplin/

 

I tracked down some of the things people haven't really covered much -- photos of the concrete parking stops, scoured parking lots, grass scouring, etc. -- so hopefully there's some new stuff for you guys.

 

Thanks.   :thumbsup:

 

Edit: I just noticed I made a mistake with the Commerce Bank. I said it was "swept away," but the photos I used were from several days after when the cleanup had already begun in earnest. I'll fix that next time I update the article. It was completely destroyed, but most of it wasn't swept away.

 

 

Great report. I remember reading the articles that you got some of that information from, very engaging well written blog. A couple of pictures I had not seen either. 

 

Just a few things. 7th and Blackcat is on the northwest side of Joplin. 

 

Also:

 

"At 5:31 pm, prodded on by information from Piotrowski and the Springfield NWS office, Stammer took the unprecedented step to activate the city’s sirens for a second time."

 

I believe that's what Stammer said in one of the newspaper articles, but that's not correct. The tornado was on the ground before the second sirens sounded as evidenced by the Jeff P. chase video and the sirens had just started sounding when it was crossing over Schifferdecker. I would estimate that it was 5:35 or 5:36 at that time and the tornado had already moved through the Cedar Ridge subdivision without sirens sounding.

 

"A life flight helicopter was blown from the top of the hospital and destroyed."

 

This was from the NWS report. The helicopter never landed on the roof. It landed beside the ER, where it basically was in the picture taken of it after the tornado.

 

 

"The big-box store was no match for the fury of the wind, and a large exterior wall collapsed on Wells as he led two children to safety. All three were killed."

 

While true, the father of the kids was also killed and he still had them in his arms when the concrete wall crushed all four of them.

 

 

"including Sports Academy"

 

It's Academy Sports.

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Thank you JoMo, there were conflicting reports about some of those things so I wasn't sure what was accurate. I'll fix that stuff up today when I go back to proofread. And after staring at a map of Joplin for a few hours trying to place aerial shots you'd think I would've realized where 7th & Black Cat Road was.   :lol:

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It's a very nice report.

 

I've been looking for this video for some time. It's taken at the KSN parking lot I believe which is at 1502 Cleveland Ave. Their tower cam got the tornado and it's been posted before. This camera is facing south and maybe southeast towards the end. I believe they are talking about that lighter looking funnel shaped cloud that is hanging pretty low to them and they are worried about it touching down as well. The tornado takes up the left 1/2 of the entire background at this time. I believe I saw that lighter looking cloud when I looked out the window right before the tornado hit. I believed it was part of the wall cloud.

 

Anyone know if that's what it is?

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Well, it's been another month or so since I last updated. There's still a lot of homes and businesses being built, Goodwill just reopened for instance. I find it amazing how quickly you get used to new surroundings.

 

For the next 5 days or so (maybe longer) you can get the Kindle edition of Randy Turner's new book "Scars from the Tornado" for free. It's basically all about East Middle School (where he teaches) It has stories from students about what they experienced, etc...

 

http://www.amazon.com/Scars-from-the-Tornado-ebook/dp/B00BPSRTDC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1362925081&sr=8-2&keywords=Scars+from+the+Tornado

 

 

The number of people still at the FEMA trailer park is now down to 35 or fewer. The Tornado Services Center there is closing at the end of the month.

http://www.joplinglobe.com/topstories/x36439010/Tornado-services-center-to-close-soon

 

 

Sean Casey with the TIV and Don Burgess stopped by East and North Middle School a few days ago as part of the Tornado Alley Outreach tour.

http://www.joplinglobe.com/topstories/x564672665/Vortex-2-tornado-chasing-team-visits-East-and-North-middle-schools

 

A group from New York was in Joplin learning how to rebuild and recover after Sandy.

http://www.joplinglobe.com/topstories/x564665821/New-Yorkers-in-Joplin-to-study-rebuilding-efforts-to-help-Hurricane-Sandy-victims

 

Habitat for Humanity will finish 71 total houses since the Joplin tornado by the anniversary that is just 2 short months away and workers completed the steel skeleton for the new Mercy hospital last week. 

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I believe I saw that lighter looking cloud when I looked out the window right before the tornado hit. I believed it was part of the wall cloud.

 

Anyone know if that's what it is?

 

It could be a satellite rotation off of the main circulation, I believe the El Reno tornado had something similar at one point. It could also just be a cloud formation if it wasn't rotating (a bit hard to tell in that video).

 

The power flash at the end reminds me of one of the shots of the 5/3/99 tornado in Moore from a helicopter.

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  • 2 weeks later...

A couple of important things have happened recently. 

 

It was announced that the FEMA trailer park would be cleared by the June 7th deadline. Out of 586 units after the tornado, 32 are left. 21 of those have plans for permanent housing. 11 others do not have a plan but FEMA will donate the 11 housing units to Catholic Charities and the city will pay to have them moved to other trailer parks or properties. Catholic Charities will then be involved in case management in order to get the occupants of those 11 housing units permanent housing. 

 

Steel started going up at the new Joplin High School yesterday. The old high school would have probably been right across from the church in the background. I think the apartments on the left side are the Hampshire Terrace II apartments. (since the original ones were destroyed) And the houses on the right side of the pic are all rebuilt from nothing after the tornado.

 

253743_10151634134975209_1532003150_n.jp

 

 

Rebuild Joplin recently completed their 59th house. They have it down to a science almost and Toyota came in and helped streamline the process.

http://www.joplinglobe.com/topstories/x1221093473/Rebuild-Joplin-celebrates-opening-of-59th-house

 

 

Jeff and Kathryn Piotrowski were on Reed Timmer's podcast earlier tonight. They announced they would be planting trees in Joplin this Spring. Jeff has some of the most entertaining storm chaser stories I have ever  heard including Joplin. They should add the podcast on their website in a few days. Jeff tells some amazing chasing stories. 

http://tvnweather.com/podcasts

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  • 1 month later...

New video... can't really tell much from it though.

 

 

 

Joplin Schools settled the lawsuit against them for the debris removal:

http://www.lebanondailyrecord.com/news/state/article_8f491d6a-20b6-5357-b44a-d75268fd79c6.html

 

 

A man is going to prison for disaster fraud after lying to FEMA and trying to get disaster benefits.

http://ozarksfirst.com/fulltext?nxd_id=797812

 

 

Also at 26th and Main (where the Salvation Army store was and what was identified as a 'Bowling Alley' by Tim Marshall) is going to be a grocery store with loft apartments. The land has been purchased for a retirement village/area near 26th and Maiden Lane across from where the hospital was. So there are many projects planned and underway in the tornado zone. Also a loft and grocery store and retail area is planned by 20th and Connecticut.

 

http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/x1097425497/Master-developer-plans-project-at-26th-and-Main

 

 

Here's a breakdown of all the building permits issued. 

http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/x2094922563/Joplin-s-rebuilding-numbers-show-no-signs-of-letting-up

 

 

An estimated 8,100 trees have been replanted after the estimated loss of 15,000-20,000. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Coming up on the 2 year anniversary since the tornado in a couple of weeks. 

 

On the anniversary this year, the city is going to have a 'picnic-like' atmosphere at Cunningham park with individual booths setup from various organizations highlighting the achievements in the past 2 years.

http://www.ksdk.com/news/article/378596/3/Joplin-to-host-program-commemorating-2nd-anniversary-of-tornado

 

Drury University will be there gathering stories. (it's a little late for that since stories change IMO) They've been very active since the tornado.

http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/x508494364/Drury-students-to-document-stories-of-the-Joplin-tornado

 

 

Mercy Hospital (to replace St. Johns) is still on schedule. They are actually working with companies to create stronger glass. Right now they plan to have 110 MPH glass in all public areas, 140 MPH glass in patient rooms and 250 MPH glass in ICU rooms. They are also hardening their generators and central areas. Much more can be read here:

http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/page-1/COM-291727/Mercy-Readies-TornadoTough-450M-Joplin-Hospital

 

8643445500_fbc2fd5d45_o.jpg

 

 

Will Norton Miracle Field recently had their first game a few days ago. It's a baseball field that was created so children with disabilities could play baseball. The playing surface is rubberized to prevent injuries. 47 players from age 5-20 played in their first game. (photo KZRG)

303076_10151716871655209_134294534_n.jpg

 

 

 

Mennonite Disaster Services recently concluded their operations in Joplin. They were a huge help. 3,300+ volunteers served and they completed 125 cleanups, 23 minor repairs, 25 major repairs and nine new builds as well as well as 12 new builds that they didn't completely finish.

http://www.mennoworld.org/2013/4/29/mds-concludes-joplin-project/

 

Joplin Habitat for Humanity has finished 66 homes since the tornado.

 

An article with some information about storm shelters, the cost, and it mentions that about 1/2 of new homes constructed in Joplin now have storm shelters. You can also see a picture of the new Community Storm Shelter at Irving school.

http://www.joplinglobe.com/cnhi_special_projects/x6223380/Against-the-wind-Tornado-veterans-balance-preparedness-practicality

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  • 2 weeks later...

Tomorrow it'll be 2 years since the Joplin tornado. Rebuilding is still going strong. Had a scare last night with an area of rotation to our southwest that passed south of the city, but the sirens did sound 3 times. 

Thanks to the 176,869+ volunteers who have helped Joplin continue to rebuild.

http://www.joplinglobe.com/tornadomay2011/x730882007/FACES-OF-RECOVERY-176-869-volunteers-help-put-Joplin-together-again

 

 

Joplin is sending help to Moore, OK. I know a lot of local churches are collecting things as well.

http://www.koamtv.com/story/22378452/joplin-to-moore-we-understand-and-were-here-for-you

 

Reuters story about Joplin and Moore:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/21/us-usa-tornadoes-joplin-idUSBRE94K1AA20130521

 

 

Janet Napolitano will be in Joplin tomorrow to give an award to Joplin.

http://www.joplinglobe.com/topstories/x319992436/Janet-Napolitano-to-speak-at-tornado-anniversary-ceremony

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Using the data released by the Springfield office (as linked above). I wrote up a blog post for ustornadoes.com about the 2-year anniversary. Includes some radar images, and a few maps.

 

http://www.ustornadoes.com/2013/05/22/joplin-missouri-ef5-tornado-may-22-2011/

 

Thank you to JoMo, who took the time to compile a list of videos taken along the path of the tornado. I used some of them in one of the maps.

 

Thinking of Joplin today.

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Two years ago at about this time the tornado was on the ground tearing through Joplin. There's not nearly as many people up at Cunningham Park this year for the ceremony. I'd estimate around 1,000-1,500 compared to the 10,000 last year. Gov. Nixon came to announce an EDA grant to build a library/movie theater and Drury University is going to build a healing garden at Cunningham. 

 

People painting "Stars of Hope" for Moore, OK. 

 

946525_575215459176394_151963637_n.jpg

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JoMo, do you know anything about the healthcare group touring hospitals giving a presentation about what they learned at Mercy?

Sent from my SCH-I535 2

Which one? There's been a few? Some from Mercy and some from Freeman. I know I saw Dr. Veer giving presentations about Freeman. 

 

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