Recovering from an Ef5 Tornado; Joplin Missouri

Recovering from an EF5 tornado; Joplin Missouri

Randall S. McCrumb

National University

DSM 444, Mid Term Paper

Nikos Guskos

15 Jan, 2011

Abstract

On May, 22 2011 a EF5 Multi-Vortex tornado killed at least 116 people in Joplin, Missouri. The tornado ripped through town it increased in intensity and ripped the roof off a hospital and destroyed thousands of homes and businesses. This tornado was the deadliest tornado in the country since 1947 and was the seventh deadliest since recording began on tornados. 2011 was a year that has recorded several record tornados across the United States. Disaster preparedness, Community preparedness and early warning may have saved several hundred more lives. The fire Chief Mitch Randles was paying attention and was able to give a 20 minute warning before the tornado touched down at 5:34 PM. Long Term recovery has involved FEMA and over fifty local and federal agencies and has received an estimated 4174 million in federal funding.

Recovering from an EF5 tornado; Joplin Missouri

Background: The event

On a late Sunday afternoon, as people sat down to their evening meal, one of the most devastating tornados 5 decades struck Joplin Missouri. On May 22nd, 2011 a series of tornados in the mid-west had the weather center on high alert. At 5:34 PM a tornado touched down just west of Joplin and tracked east towards the town. As the tornado progressed into the city it intensified. As the tornado passed through the southern portion Joplin, it increased in size to a width in excess of 1 mile. The tornado was originally estimated at an EF3 and was later upgraded to an EF5. At 5:41 PM the Tornado entered a residential section in the southwest section of Joplin. The destruction was wide spread and catastrophic as the tornado demolished homes and torn the roof off of the St. John’s Regional Medical Center, shifting the entire building 4 inches. Schools and a nursing home were flattened along...