The groups went door to door, making quick checks of property that in many places had been stripped to their foundations or had walls collapse. Teams of searchers fanned out in waves across several square miles. Fires, gas fumes and unstable buildings posed constant threats. Rescue crews had to move gingerly around downed power lines and jagged chunks of debris as they hunted for victims and hoped for survivors. “By the time we tried to get under the house, it already went over us.”Īs rescuers toiled in the debris, a strong thunderstorm lashed the crippled city. “Five minutes later, the second warning went off,” he said. Larry Bruffy said he heard the first warning but looked out from his garage and saw nothing. While many residents had 10 to 17 minutes of warning, rain and hail may have drowned out the sirens. Jay Nixon said he was “optimistic that there are still lives out there to be saved.” An unknown number of people were hurt.ĭespite the grim outlook, Gov. Unlike the multiple storms that killed more than 300 people last month across the South, Joplin was smashed by just one exceptionally powerful twister.Īuthorities were prepared to find more bodies in the rubble throughout this gritty, blue-collar town of 50,000 people about 160 miles south of Kansas City. It was the nation’s deadliest single twister since a June 1953 tornado in Flint, Mich. Fires from gas leaks burned across town, and more violent weather loomed, including the threat of hail, high winds and even more tornadoes. It was the nation’s deadliest single tornado in nearly 60 years and the second major tornado disaster in less than a month.Īuthorities feared the toll could rise as the full scope of the destruction comes into view: House after house reduced to slabs, cars crushed like soda cans, shaken residents roaming streets in search of missing family members. (AP) – Rescue crews dug through piles of splintered houses and crushed cars Monday in a search for victims of a half-mile-wide tornado that killed at least 116 people when it blasted much of this Missouri town off the map and slammed straight into its hospital. The tornado tore a path a mile wide and four miles long destroying homes and businesses. The complete report is available here: Final Report, Technical Investigation of the May 22, 2011, Tornado in Joplin, Missouri.Residents begin digging through the rubble of their home after it was destroyed by a tornado that hit Joplin, Mo. For more information on the recommendations that have progressed see the presentation here. create national codes and standards for clear, consistent and accurate emergency communications and then ensure that emergency managers, the National Weather Service, and the news media in local communities have a joint plan for delivering those messages quickly and persuasively during tornadoes.ĭuring the June 2023 NCSTAC Meeting updates were provided on the status of the recommendations that were issued as a result of the NCST Joplin Tornado investigation.installing tornado shelters in new and existing multi-family residential, commercial, and other larger buildings (hospitals, schools, large retail stores, and other commercial spaces that accommodate 200 to 300 people at a time) and as part of this effort, develop and implement uniform national guidelines to help communities site, design, install, and operate those shelters and. developing national performance-based standards for tornado-resistant design of buildings and infrastructure, as well as design methods to achieve those standards, and requirements that critical facilities such as hospitals, be designed to remain operational in the event of a tornado.Based on the analysis of the data collected and other criteria required by regulation, NIST Director Pat Gallagher established a research team to proceed with a more comprehensive study of the impacts of the disaster.īased on its findings, the NIST technical study team developed 16 recommendations for improving how buildings and shelters are designed, constructed, and maintained in tornado-prone regions and for improving emergency communications. NIST sent four engineers to Joplin from May 25-28, to conduct a preliminary reconnaissance of building performance and emergency communications during the tornado. The Joplin tornado damaged 553 business structures and nearly 7,500 residential structures over 3,000 of those residences were heavily damaged or completely destroyed. The damage to the built environment made this the costliest tornado on record as well, with losses approaching $3 billion. since official records were begun in 1950. The May 22, 2011, Joplin tornado, rated EF–5 on the Enhanced Fujita tornado intensity scale, caused 161 fatalities and more than 1,000 injuries, making it the deadliest single tornado on record in the U.S.
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