Massive tornado annihilates Joplin, MO - killing 89+
52 replies, posted
[highlight]UPDATE:[/highlight] [b]AP reports that death toll has risen to [del]116[/del] 122.[/b] :smith:
[highlight]UPDATE 5/24/2011:[/highlight] Tornado is officially classed as EF5 w/ winds over 200 mi/h. - [url]http://www.suntimes.com/news/5558127-417/joplin-tornado-was-highest-rated-ef5-storm-death-toll-up-to-122.html[/url]
[b][u]25%[/u][/b] of the city is gone and St. John's Regional Medical Center suffered a direct hit.
[release]Joplin, Missouri (CNN) -- The Sunday night tornado chewed through a densely populated area of the southwest Missouri city, killing at least 89 as it tore apart homes and businesses, ripped into a high school and caused severe damage to one of the two hospitals in the city.
"Everybody's going to know people who are dead," said CNN iReporter Zach Tusinger, who said his aunt and uncle died in the Sunday night tornado. "You could have probably dropped a nuclear bomb on the town and I don't think it would have done near as much damage as it did."
The tornado -- the fourth-deadliest since the National Weather Service began keeping count in 1950 -- caused significant damage to as many as a quarter of the buildings in the southwest Missouri city, fire and emergency management officials said.
Parts of the city of 50,500 were unrecognizable, according to Steve Polley, a storm chaser from Kansas City, Missouri, who described the damage from the Sunday night tornado as "complete devastation."
"The particular area that the tornado went through is just like the central portion of the city, and it's very dense in terms of population," Joplin Emergency Management Director Keith Stammer said on CNN's "American Morning."
More than 1,000 law enforcement officers from 40 agencies in four states were in Joplin aiding with disaster response, including search and rescue, said Collin Stosberg, a spokesman for the Missouri State Highway Patrol. Gov. Jay Nixon said 500 firefighters, 140 National Guard members and a specialized search-and-rescue team were on the ground working rescue missions.
President Barack Obama also ordered Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate and an incident management team to Joplin to coordinate federal disaster relief assistance efforts, White House spokesman Nicholas Shapiro said Monday.
Searchers were combing the center of the city for trapped survivors as well as additional bodies, Stosberg said. But the work was being slowed by a new round of severe weather that rolled through the city Monday morning, as well as widespread problems with broken natural gas lines and other safety issues, authorities said.
Rescuers pulled five families from rubble on Monday morning, Nixon said.
"We still believe there are folks alive under the rubble and we are working hard to save them," he said.
The tornado struck about 5:40 p.m. Sunday and reportedly grew to as wide as three-quarters of a mile at one point along its estimated four-mile track, according to the State Emergency Management Agency.
St. John's Regional Medical Center was hit directly by the tornado and suffered significant damage, according to a statement from Lynn Britton, president of Sisters of Mercy Health System, which operates the hospital.
One facade of the building made of glass was blown out, and authorities evacuated the medical center, said Ray Foreman, a meteorologist with CNN affiliate KODE in Joplin. Makeshift triage centers were set up in tents outside, witness Bethany Scutti said.
The hospital was treating 183 people when the storm struck, Britton said. It was unclear if any were injured in the storm. The patients were taken to hospitals as far away as Springfield, Missouri, and northwest Arkansas.
Structural engineers were on their way to Joplin to assess the building, where 1,700 people work, Britton said.
Residents 70 miles away from Joplin in Dade County, Missouri, found X-rays from St. John's in their driveways, said Foreman, indicating the size and power of the storm. Gurneys were blown several blocks away.
Officals evacuated long-term patients from the city's other medical center, Freeman Hospital, to make room for emergency cases from the tornado, Nixon said...[/release]
[url]http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/05/23/missouri.tornado/index.html?hpt=T1[/url]
Looks like 2011 is shaping up to be one of the worst years for extreme weather, another group of tornadoes slammed Minneapolis earlier that day. :derp:
:smith:
AFAIK the storm system that spawned that tornado is supposed to hit my town this afternoon.
Tornadoes suck.
[QUOTE=Master117;30010771]Tornadoes suck.[/QUOTE]
that's what she said
[QUOTE=Master117;30010771]Tornadoes suck.[/QUOTE]
I go right outside and watch. If you make yourself bigger, they get scared and go away.
My mom used to live in Joplin and has friends out there.
Hope they're ok. :ohdear:
We had debris falling from the sky where I lived. Family photos, insulation, and pieces of paper were floating down from the sky. I had no idea 89+ people died because I just woke-up. Damn... I'm glad it missed us. It's still storming here, it has been all night.
Camping was right, just miscalculated!
[quote]Tornado sirens rang 20 minutes before the storm struck Joplin cutting a gash nearly six miles long and more than half a mile (800m) wide through the city centre.[/quote]
[url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13509683]SOURCE[/url]
So we spent decades developing an advanced warning system and even with 20 minutes notice you can't make it to safety?
:eng99:
Thats hillbilly country out there.
Horrible. The power went out at school today during an "after" storm. Pitch black. It was awesome.
Here's the damage taken by a hospital in Joplin.
[img]http://a.abcnews.com/images/Health/ap_hospital_joplin_mw_110523_wg.jpg[/img]
Crazy tornado's one crazy year this has been.
[QUOTE=PvtCupcakes;30012411]Thats hillbilly country out there.[/QUOTE]
what's your point? does that make this event any less horrible just because you dislike the victims?
I live about a half hour away, gonna go by again later and see if I can help or anything.
[editline]23rd May 2011[/editline]
[QUOTE=PvtCupcakes;30012411]Thats hillbilly country out there.[/QUOTE]
Hey now, no need to be a douche. There's no hillbilly's out here :v:
[QUOTE=Master117;30010771]Tornadoes suck.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, I agree. Tornadoes seriously blow.
Well shit. I wonder what the next 7 months has in store for 2011.
I was born in Joplin, and in St. Johns. Both of which barely exist anymore.
I have a lot of family still there, too. And we can't get any calls through to anyone. :smith:
[QUOTE=tanktan38;30012553]Horrible. The power went out at school today during an "after" storm. Pitch black. It was awesome.
Here's the damage taken by a hospital in Joplin.
[img]http://a.abcnews.com/images/Health/ap_hospital_joplin_mw_110523_wg.jpg[/img][/QUOTE]
That hospital... Theirs people inside there :ohdear:
[QUOTE=ducky5;30016223]That hospital... The[b]re's[/b] people inside there :ohdear:[/QUOTE]
Has anyone else wanted to see a tornado in real life?
I live about 45 minutes away from Joplin, we had some nasty wind and some good size hail here last night, a bit of flooding today, and we're suppose to have some pretty bad storms coming tomorrow. Luckily no tornadoes so far though. I was watching a bit of the local news right after the tornado hit Joplin... Pretty crazy stuff. (There was a 300 pound man sucked out a hospital window.) I hope they can get everyone situated despite the storms that keep rolling in.
[editline]23rd May 2011[/editline]
[QUOTE=PvtCupcakes;30012411]Thats hillbilly country out there.[/QUOTE]
Do you really have to be a dick to the 99.9% of people around here who aren't inbred rednecks?
[editline]23rd May 2011[/editline]
Oh, also Joplin High School, an elementary school, and I'm pretty sure a third one were totally flattened. I'm pretty sure it's safe to assume a lot of these kids are taking an early summer break.
[QUOTE=CaptainQuirk;30016806]I live about 45 minutes away from Joplin, we had some nasty wind and some good size hail here last night, a bit of flooding today, and we're suppose to have some pretty bad storms coming tomorrow. Luckily no tornadoes so far though. I was watching a bit of the local news right after the tornado hit Joplin... Pretty crazy stuff. (There was a 300 pound man sucked out a hospital window.) I hope they can get everyone situated despite the storms that keep rolling in.
[editline]23rd May 2011[/editline]
Do you really have to be a dick to the 99.9% of people around here who aren't inbred rednecks?
[editline]23rd May 2011[/editline]
Oh, also Joplin High School, an elementary school, and I'm pretty sure a third one were totally flattened. I'm pretty sure it's safe to assume a lot of these kids are taking an early summer break.[/QUOTE]
They've all been graduated, and got out 2 weeks early. It's a good thing this didn't happen during a school day, else all those kids would have been screwed in every way possible.
Saw this on the news tonight, scared me to hell :ohdear:
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0fDfkiSUPA[/media]
[QUOTE=Rainhorror;30016682]Has anyone else wanted to see a tornado in real life?[/QUOTE]
I missed several simply because either it hit after I left (Guelph 2000) or I was not close enough to witness it.
I miss Ontario.
Two pictures taken after someone walked out of their basement.
[img_thumb]http://i.imgur.com/KFqKK.jpg[/img_thumb]
[img_thumb]http://i.imgur.com/nMPVV.jpg[/img_thumb]
my heart seriously goes out to EVERYONE out there, so many lives taken... :frown:
And the guys from that CMT show "trick my truck" are based there, that was my favorite show on that channel, next to "country fried home videos" :frown:
You know, it may not be as cheap but would it really hurt to make your home out of bricks and stone? Something more fortified - immobile. I mean it can't hurt. What about a home built into the ground so the roof is at ground level. Sure, if it's built wrong there will be some serious projectiles but is that really what you would be worrying about when a tornado hits? Having a home to go back to I think would be the best feeling there is after such a catastrophe. In my opinion it would be a great investment in such countries like this.
I had seen a half stone structure that was pretty much in tact except the top was missing but that was probably wood! Oh well. If there's a reason behind making your tornado prone homes out of wood and not a stronger material then please tell me, it's been an issue that has been bugging me for some time. I've just never bothered to look it up.
My heart goes out to everyone involved in these horrifying disasters. They would scare the hell out of me.
[QUOTE=Death n1;30020132]You know, it may not be as cheap but would it really hurt to make your home out of bricks and stone? Something more fortified - immobile. I mean it can't hurt. What about a home built into the ground so the roof is at ground level. Sure, if it's built wrong there will be some serious projectiles but is that really what you would be worrying about when a tornado hits? Having a home to go back to I think would be the best feeling there is after such a catastrophe. In my opinion it would be a great investment in such countries like this.
I had seen a half stone structure that was pretty much in tact except the top was missing but that was probably wood! Oh well. If there's a reason behind making your tornado prone homes out of wood and not a stronger material then please tell me, it's been an issue that has been bugging me for some time. I've just never bothered to look it up.
My heart goes out to everyone involved in these horrifying disasters. They would scare the hell out of me.[/QUOTE]
Believe me, the only structure a tornado would really be ineffective against would be a dome.
But it's not the tornado that does the damage, it's the debris.
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