Joplin MO Tornado Damage and Recovery

June 2-3, 2011 - a little over a week after a killer EF-5 tornado decimated the city of Joplin, MO. There seemed to be a lull in the storm pattern over the Great Plains so I decided that I would pack up my truck with as much as I could and head to Joplin for a couple of days just to help anybody we could. Tami and I went to Costco the night before I was to leave with her son Griffin and we grabbed everything that we thought would be helpful to people in need in a major disaster zone. Soon after we were trying to cram everything we could into her SUV and get home to swap it out into my truck. At 1500 the next day Griffin and I headed out toward Joplin. There were some storms in Kansas to chase on the way. We drove through Hoisington, KS (F4 in 2001) and we made it to Hesston, Kansas around midnite.......the site of another F-5 tornado in 1990. The next morning we woke and finished our trek to Joplin. I wasn't sure what to expect since some people think storm chasers are just high adrenaline junkies that thrive on death and destruction. It couldn't be any farther from the truth. I had seen destruction before......Hoisington, KS a couple of days after an F-4 hit there in 2001 and Hallam, NE the next morning after one of the largest tornadoes ever recorded hit in 2004. This was my first in seeing what an EF-5 was capable of. At approximately 1740 on May 22, 2011, an EF-5 tornado stuck Joplin, MO killing almost 150 people and injuring many more. The path length was 6 miles long and almost 1 mile wide. It leveled everything in its path. As we approached Joplin, I put my live stream up so anyone that follows me on Facebook or Twitter could see exactly what we were seeing the same time we were seeing it as we were seeing it. We came down Blackcat Rd and made a left on 32nd, right near where the initial touchdown of the tornado was. We started seeing tree damage and some roof damage immediately. Then as we approach St. Johns Hospital it suddenly turned horrific. As far as you could see there was nothing but piles of debris. The drapes hung out the windows of the hospital flailing in the breeze. My heart sank the deeper we got into the path of the storm. We immediately began to look for a donation center and talked to a police officer who guided us toward the high school. There they took the food stuffs we had brought to help feed the volunteers that made their way to Joplin to help in the cleanup. Then we headed to the Salvation Army main warehouse to drop off the remaining supplies of toilet paper, paper towels and handwipes. After departing the Salvation Army I called fellow storm chaser Mike Mezeul II and we met up near I-44 and Range Line Rd. We had a quick introduction and then tried to figure out where to go from there. Mike had a couple of things he was going to look into with his friends that came with him and would hook back up with us later. Griffin and I just started driving thru the streets looking for anyone we could help. We stopped and offered help to a couple that were working on the remains of their house. They seemed in good spirits and were all too eager to share their experience with us. They were in the finishing stages of searching thru the piles of rubble that once used to be their house and declined our help. We listened to their stories and offered them some water and we started searching for someone else to help. We came upon a couple of brothers.....Bob and Matt Thornburg. They were both from Las Vegas and searching thru the piles of rubble that was once their brother Gene's house. We asked if we could help. They gladly accepted our help and asked where we were from. We were representing the 12th and 13th States and were the 94th and 95th persons to stop and help them clean and sort thru the piles of rubble for their families belongings. Griffin and I immediately jumped out, grabbed our gloves and started sifting thru the remnants. We found everything from pictures and albums to jewelry. We were really looking for a briefcase and the flag that was draped on their fathers coffin who was a veteran of the armed services. Mike and his friends, Natalie Wells and Austin King joined us a short time later in the search. Bob told us all the story of how his brother and mother survived the storm in the remains of this pile of debris that used to be a nice house. 6 people died in the houses that we worked around, but they both had made it. They were smack dab in the middle of the EF-5 winds per the damage survey chart. Gene and his mother were trying to get to shelter in their 750lb cast iron bathtub, but never made it to the tub before the tornado hit their house. The bathtub hasn't been found yet. Probably a good thing they didn't make it to the tub. Their one neighbor was killed as the tornado picked her and her son up and threw them onto the hospital roof approximately 1/4 of a mile away. She was killed, her son lived. The hospital itself was moved 12" off of its foundation I was told. We were constantly picking up shards of glass from the hospital in the piles that we were working through. That in itself tells you what kind of power this tornado had. This wasn't just another EF-5 tornado. This was one for the record books. A van was thrown from the far side of the hospital and landed on a house where 2 more people were killed a mere 40' away from where we were working. I estimate that it was nearly 1/2 of a mile from where the van was reportedly parked. There was a semi truck that was literally wrapped around the tree. The rear wheels were meeting the front wheels and the tree was in between. There were so many cars that were made unrecognizable by the tornado that if anyone had been in them, they were surely added to the death toll. I can't even begin to fathom the chaos and confusion in the immediate wake of the storm. As of this writing 141 people were killed by this tornado. Being in Joplin hearing the stories and seeing the enormity of what was done is something that I can't even begin to comprehend even as I write this. It all seemed surreal. Like it was all a dream, but here we were working and trying to help in anyway we could in a sea of destroyed houses as far as the eye could see in both directions. And in the end, I can't get over the feeling like I didn't do enough. I know that Bob and Matt were both happy that we were there to help them, but I feel very hollow inside because I wanted to do more. Maybe if we found the flag. Me being the sentimental person that I am, I know exactly how much it would have meant to their family to find THAT flag. I am sure this writing is bouncing all over the place, but that is exactly what that tornado did to everyone effected by it. It turned their lives inside out and upside down. I definitely have seen the dark side of what I love to chase year after year. No chaser ever wants to come into that kind of scene.......ever. I think I can speak for every single storm chaser out there that we would all love to see a mile wide tornado........in an open prairie. Not in Joplin. Or Tuskaloosa. Or Piedmont. Or anywhere else. They are going to happen however and Joplin will unfortunately not be the last community to be effected in this horrific way. My heart bleeds for them. But, the people that we talked to and interacted with were resilient and stood tall. They will be back. Joplin will be back. Better than ever before......and better prepared. Hopefully we all take something positive away from this terrible tragedy and use it for the better.

Satellite image of the storms that day and the storm that hit Joplin.

Radar signature and debris ball.

Satellite view of the damage path.

Destruction as far as the eye can see.

Bob and Matt Thornburg with a photo album containing images of their brother Gene's house before the tornado. Mike Mezuel is taking their pictures in the first shot.