![]() Tornadoes were one of few natural hazards not considered in design standards and building codes at the time of the Joplin tornado. Catastrophic damage in Joplin, Missouri, May 2011. About 75% of the city was damaged to some extent and at least 20% of its buildings were destroyed. Flattened cell towers disrupted communications and there were widespread power outages. Vehicles were flung around, 100-pound iron covers were lifted from manholes, and where a bank had stood only its concrete vault remained. John's Regional Medical Center suffered severe damage and had to be demolished because its foundation and underpinning system deformed. Two fire stations were destroyed, and eight primary schools were damaged or destroyed. ![]() In McClelland Boulevard/26th Street neighborhood, for example, almost every home was destroyed. The city center narrowly escaped devastation but in just nine minutes more than 8,000 homes and apartment units in Joplin and more than 500 commercial properties were heavily damaged or destroyed. By the time it crossed South Schifferdecker Avenue it was inflicting the types of catastrophic damage associated with EF-5 twisters to a relatively small area near the core of the tornado. It tracked into the outer suburbs as an EF-2 or EF-3 but it was rapidly intensifying and growing larger. It left a flattened path through the city three-quarters of a mile wide and 14 miles long. The tornado touched down just inside the Missouri border and cut straight across heavily populated southern Joplin before continuing to the east. Steel reinforced concrete structures can be badly damaged and high-rise buildings may experience significant structural deformation. The twister was later rated an EF-5 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale tornadoes of this intensity have 3-second gusts of at least 200 mph and potential damage can be incredible as strong frame houses can be leveled off their foundations and automobile-sized missiles become airborne. Joplin, a few miles from the Kansas border in the southwestern corner of the state, experienced an extraordinarily violent tornado. Track of the 2011 tornado through Joplin and levels of damage experienced. Joplin is described in the city’s historic preservation plan as being significant as the “commercial center of the Tri-State Mining District encompassing portions of southwest Missouri, southeastern Kansas, and northeast Oklahoma.” At the time of the 2010 census its population was 50,150, while the surrounding Metropolitan Statistical Area had an estimated population of 175,518. This was the greatest loss of life in a single tornado since April 1947. Some lives were lost in Arkansas, Kansas, Minnesota, and Oklahoma but most deaths-158 of them-occurred in the city of Joplin in Jasper County, Missouri. Missouri was, however, the most severely hit as several tornadoes touched down on May 22. In Indiana, the small town of Bedford sustained significant damage as several homes were destroyed. Eight confirmed tornadoes also touched down in Texas. In Texas, hail the size of tennis balls bombarded the Dallas and Fort Worth areas through the early evening of May 24, smashing car windows, damaging roofs, and leaving nearly 70,000 homes and businesses without electricity. In Kansas, 14 reported tornadoes touched down on May 21, and some locales were hit with hail as large as baseballs. In Minnesota, more than 100 houses and several commercial properties were damaged, and many trees and power lines were knocked down. ![]() There was significant damage in Minnesota, Kansas, northern Texas, and southern Indiana. Thousands of buildings were damaged, hundreds were destroyed, and more than 1,000 people were injured a total of 184 people were killed. The severe weather funneled across a corridor that stretched from Lake Superior to central Texas and east through Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and to the East Coast, impacting more than 20 states in all. Then over the next seven days 150+ confirmed tornadoes raged across the heart of the country. ![]() But on May 20 severe thunderstorms in eastern Texas and parts of Arkansas and Oklahoma brought high winds, hail, and five reported tornadoes. ![]() For three weeks, only a handful of isolated twisters were reported. The month of May 2011, normally the most active month for tornadoes, began quietly. Spawned by severe thunderstorms, tornadoes are among the most destructive forces in nature. ![]()
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