A few months ago, an F4 tornado devastated parts of Alabama and Georgia. You may remember I wrote a few posts about it, showing the size and intensity of the twister as well as the damage left in it’s wake. And of course, what would a disaster be in America without the worst in people being brought out? Safety and security has become an issue in some of the affected towns, many of which are still cleaning up. If you have access to a computer in those areas, you can use the internet to help you on your road to recovery; for instance, if you live in Trussville, Alabama, you may want to search for “home security trussville” to see what is offered in your area.
The tornado that ripped through the southeast wasn’t the only one to grab national attention. Only a month had passed by when an F5 tornado devastated the city of Joplin in Missouri. There was just as much coverage on the Joplin tornado as the Birmingham one thanks to advances in the news coverage on DirectTV. Though not as big, the tornado in Joplin was stronger, uprooting trees and completely removing buildings off their foundation. Thanks to all the coverage made by the News, aide from all across the United States was sent to the victims, and both areas are slowly but steadily recovering.
There has been some before and after photography/videos coming out of Joplin, MO, from when the F5 Tornado struck on May 22, 2011. People are looking up their streets on Google Maps (which are archived from before the storm hit), and then taking photographs of the same exact spot. There has been some rebuilding, but quite a bit of the city is still completely destroyed. It’s hard to believe that it was once so beautiful.
Does this look like insufficient damage to you? An F4 tornado hit Birmingham, AL in April, leaving miles upon miles of destruction like this. Yet for some reason, they received a letter stating that they were ineligible for FEMA assistance.
Birmingham, AL Tornado Damage
According to the letter they received from FEMA, the house that the family lost in the deadly April 27 twister was “not unsafe to live in.”
Sadly, it is believed that numerous families may have been rejected FEMA grants as well for the same reason. Their neighborhood?
Some people believe that it’s just a paperwork error and that FEMA will correctly distribute the money to the victims, but as of now that is just optimistic speculation.
The damage in Joplin, Missouri is absolutely horrendous, as depicted in the photograph slideshow below:
The Joplin tornado recap from the National Weather Service was posted:
…JOPLIN TORNADO GIVEN A PRELIMINARY HIGH END EF-4 RATING…
* DATE…22 MAY 2011
* BEGIN LOCATION…APPROXIMATELY 3 MILES SOUTHWEST OF JOPLIN
* END LOCATION…1 MILE SOUTHEAST OF DUQUESNE
* ESTIMATED BEGIN TIME…541 PM
* ESTIMATED END TIME…550 PM
* MAXIMUM EF-SCALE RATING…EF-4
* ESTIMATED MAXIMUM WIND SPEED…190-198 MPH
* ESTIMATED PATH WIDTH…3/4 OF A MILE
* PATH LENGTH…7 MILES
* FATALITIES…116 REPORTED AS OF 3 PM MONDAY
* INJURIES…400 REPORTED AS OF 3 PM MONDAY
* BEGIN LAT/LON…37.06 N / 94.57 W
* END LAT/LON…37.06 N / 94.39 W
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SURVEY TEAMS RATED THE TORNADO THAT KILLED OVER 100 PEOPLE IN AND AROUND JOPLIN AS A HIGH END EF-4 TORNADO. BASED UPON SURVEYS COMPLETED TODAY…MAXIMUM WINDS WERE ESTIMATED BETWEEN 190 AND 198 MPH. THE TORNADO HAD A MAXIMUM WIDTH OF 3/4 TO ONE MILE.
THE TORNADO INITIALLY TOUCHED DOWN AROUND 541 PM NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF COUNTRY CLUB AND 32ND STREET. ADDITIONAL SURVEYS ARE EXPECTED TO BE CONDUCTED TO FURTHER DEFINE THE STARTING POINT AND INTENSITY AT THIS LOCATION.
DAMAGE BECAME MORE WIDESPREAD AS THE TORNADO CROSSED MAIDEN LANE…CAUSING SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE TO NEARLY ALL WINDOWS ON THREE SIDES OF ST JOHNS HOSPITAL AS WELL AS TO THE ROOF. THE TORNADO FURTHER INTENSIFIED AS IT DESTROYED NUMEROUS HOMES AND BUSINESSES TO THE EAST AND NORTH OF THE HOSPITAL. THE HIGHEST RATED DAMAGE IN THIS AREA WAS TO A CHURCH SCHOOL THAT HAD ALL BUT A PORTION OF ITS EXTERIOR WALLS DESTROYED AS WELL AS TO A NURSING HOME. WINDS IN THAT AREA WERE ESTIMATED AT 160 TO 180 MPH.
THE TORNADO CONTINUED TO DESTROY OVER 100 HOMES BETWEEN 32ND AND 20TH STREETS. THREE STORY APARTMENT COMPLEXES HAD THE TOP TWO FLOORS REMOVED…OTHER TWO STORY COMPLEXES WERE PARTIALLY LEVELED. A BANK WAS TOTALLY DESTROYED WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE VAULT. A DILLONS GROCERY STORE ALSO HAD SIGNIFICANT ROOF AND EXTERIOR WALL DAMAGE. LASTLY…THE EXTERIOR AND INTERIOR WALLS OF A TECHNICAL SCHOOL…A MORTAR AND REBAR REINFORCED CINDER BLOCK BUILDING…FAILED.
THE TORNADO CROSSED RANGELINE ROAD NEAR 20TH STREET. THE MOST INTENSE DAMAGE WAS NOTED JUST EAST OF THIS INTERSECTION WHERE A HOME DEPOT WAS DESTROYED BY AN ESTIMATED 190 TO NEARLY 200 MPH WINDS. IN ADDITION…THE CUMMINS BUILDING…A CONCRETE BLOCK AND HEAVY STEEL BUILDING…HAD ITS STEEL ROOF BEAMS COLLAPSE. SPORTS ACADEMY AND THE WALMART ALSO SUFFERED SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE.
THE TORNADO CONTINUED TO MOVE EASTWARD ALONG AND SOUTH OF 20TH STREET DESTROYING NUMEROUS WAREHOUSE STYLE FACILITIES AND RESIDENCES THROUGH DUQUESNE ROAD. WINDS IN THIS AREA MAY ALSO APPROACH 200 MPH.
THE TORNADO CONTINUED TO DESTROYING NUMEROUS HOMES BEFORE WEAKENING AS IT TURNED SOUTHEAST TOWARD INTERSTATE 44. SUBSEQUENT DAMAGE SURVEYS WILL BE REQUIRED TO DETERMINE THE SCOPE OF ADDITIONAL REPORTS ALONG AND SOUTHEAST OF THE INTERSECTION OF HIGHWAY 71 AND INTERSTATE 44.
Note: The F4 rating is preliminary and may be adjusted when they make a final decision on Tuesday, May 24, 2011.
Yesterday, the city of Joplin, Missouri (mainly the south side) was destroyed by a powerful (F4?) tornado. Looking for some videos of the storm, will post them as I come across them.
Editing this in for, another new video was put online by Jeff Piotrowski, a storm chaser. This one is probably the best so far because it shows just how massive this thing was at its peak:
This is the original video that the CNN vid came from:
A very good, new video was just posted on CNN: (recommend full screening)
This one was taken inside a store when the tornado struck. There’s not much video but the audio will definitely give you some indication of how scary the direct hit of a tornado is, especially after the 2 minute mark and 3 minute mark:
There’s another chilling video of the storm being tracked by the local news in Joplin below. You can hear the frantic sounds in the reporter’s voices. They did mention it was rain wrapped, therefore there might not be many good videos depicting the twister, but we’ll see. It’s definitely visible from the tower cam:
Storm chaser POV:
There’s already a lot of damage photographs available on the internet, so I’m probably gonna post a few and otherwise link to the respective websites they’re posted on. Here are some of the damage photos:
