I live on the Kansas side and go into Joplin quite a bit. Aside from a bunch of empty lots and no big trees you would never know the area had been totally destroyed. They have done an awesome job of rebuilding. Great video too, very informative.
@@TexasbyStorm Exactly. Saginaw my home "town", & as someone over 50 Joplin to me is a totally different place from the perspective of how the landscape was forever changed. Just doesn't feel like the same town anymore. When right after you could see St. John's from Rangeline, too weird.
Good friend of mine was a trucker durning this time, he said he stopped in Joplin an hour before the storm struck. He said he had this very bad sinking feeling in the bottom of his bowels and decided to break DOT ruling and drive up the road another 30 miles. Less than 20 minutes after leaving, the tornado struck and he said that was the only time he really listened to his gut. He passed away in 2021 to multiple organ cancer. RIP "Grumpy Doug"
My mother lost her home at 2221 S Kentucky~ We are fortunate she survived in the bathtub as the house came down. It gives me chills to know she was right in the middle of the path and at the most intense stage of the tornado. Rest in peace for the souls lost on that day.
I live in Joplin and was there it was the loudest sound you will ever hear. The amount of force the wind had on the house and the stuff in the air was horrible. There is a cross there that stood the whole time and I still go to that same school.
If you've never seen a video of the birth of this tornado, look it up. It's incredible. I've never seen a tornado go from a rope to a wedge so fast in my life.
The amount of warning that Joplin had for this storm was very small. That cell went from just a strong thunderstorm, to an EF5 tornado in literally 20-25 minutes. I remember watching something on a local channel, and all of sudden they cut to a freaking wedge funnel barreling towards the city.
Not really - it was considered above the national average and around 17-20 minutes. Most residents apparently disregarded the sirens as they had heard them many times before, and waited for additional confirmation that something else was indeed happening. I can’t find watch data for the area, but I’m assuming it was under multiple severe weather watches for the entire day most likely. People (and organizations, schools, businesses) really need to respect these watches and warnings more, otherwise what’s the point?
Many before the tornado would have told you if the sirens sounded it meant nothing, just wait in the bathtub or on the porch and nothing will happen. Ask anyone today in Joplin who lived through it, and they never miss a watch nor warning ever. Most who rebuilt installed storm shelters, even those who didn’t have their homes destroyed now have above ground vault-styled tornado shelters. The reaction is very different today EDIT: The reason I know is I’ve had family who have lived in Joplin for decades (all of whom lived, by God’s Grace), and now reside in Joplin myself
I went into the jonesboro tornado in 2020. I saw a bunch of people comparing it to joplin and tuscaloosa because of how fast they intensified. And they were not lying. They came out of nowhere
Great job on this video. I stayed for around a week afterwards with a group of chasers. I will never forget the destruction & loss of life. You really captured what happened there & I appreciate the hard work.
We were 24th/Virginia (1 block east of Main). We were so fortunate. In all my life I'd never seen such a great example of human goodness. People poured in from everywhere to help. It just touched your soul. Thank you, to all who rushed in to help us all.
21st and Virginia. My childhood home is one of three original houses on that block now. Took out the amazing walnut tree in the back yard, but it seems the walnut tree is regrowing in the stump that was left behind. Not nearly as majestic as it used to be.
In terms of looking at tornado before/after damage on google maps, this one and greensburg are the most mind blowing. The path is so clearly visible in this one, but if you look up the greensburg kansas tornado of 2007, it literally looks like someone dropped a nuclear bomb in the center of the town. It's unreal.
It's hard to fathom even when you saw it. I visited 4 months later. My second cousin's house was in the middle of it. Thankfully, they weren't home at the time. The only thing left standing was the bathroom.
As a nurse I can not imagine the power going off, realizing you won't have generator power and realizing you have more intubated patients than nurses. They didn't have enough warning to move the patients together. I've read some of them tried to stay and bag them instead of taking cover but they were forced down by debris when the windows blew. I just can't imagine what that would be like.
I drove through that area a few years ago and it was weird seeing all of the missing trees. It's also a very hilly area. They didn't just rebuild Joplin. They thrived after the tornado.
@@NOOOOOOO0OOOOO I know quite a few families that would disagree that it was " the best thing to happen to the area in a long time". My Son in Law was with Joplin police at the time and claims that they recovered more than 158 bodies.
Great video. Your work and thought into this shows and Is appreciated. My house and family were lucky enough to be spared by 4 blocks south of the edge where it hit the high school. What I can remember vividly is months after, driving across town to go visit my parents was that you could easily get lost in a place that you have lived your whole life. There were times when I pulled up to an intersection and didn't know exactly where I was because there wasn't a single building or marker, it was total devastation. Your video shows that very well and you did a great job of showing before, after, and rebuild. The lives lost, the homes destroyed, and the hero's that flocked from all over the world to lend us a hand will never be forgotten. We are Joplin Strong!
I have not seen before or since the Joplin tornado. Watching the video it looked like the tornado was not gonna get organized to do anything but something click with the storm and it touchdown and grew into a wedge.
@@Razainthewoods I went back and watched and you're correct. I don't know how I missed that as I've watched that video 100 times at least. Good eyes bro👍.
I'm a survivor it was my graduation day so I will never forget. Definitely had no idea it was happening didn't hear any sirens. Me and girlfriend at the time drove right into it. It was the scariest thing I have ever experienced
Joplin local here! The section you zoomed into next to the new caseys on 20th street, near the new library. That big empty field is now huge brand new apartment building. A couple of them! So amazing to see the town STILL rebuilding. And we still have very few trees through here!
The house at 4:15 should have played the lottery that night. I’ve went to Joplin last year and played baseball at the high school. You can just feel the energy it left behind idk maybe I’m crazy but it was a weird feeling. As you said “war zone” that’s a good explanation.
You're not crazy. I visited the memorial they have in Joplin a few years ago when I happened to be driving through town. I felt such a strong energy there that I had never felt before. I swear I had like a weird 6th sense where I could just immediately tell when a storm was nearby for like a whole month after my visit.
@@stormycat774 exactly! Thank you for the reply! I asked people on my team if they had the same feeling and they didn’t. Thought I was just weird but I’ve always been sensed energy good or bad. There is a weird energy there forsure.
GREAT INFORMATION AND ILLUSTRATIONS TO SHOW US WHAT REALLY HAPPENED. I had living there on that very deadly, very destructive, and very traumatic tornado in fact, 2 of my cousins lost their homes there from that tornado. Fortunately for them and their immediate family members,
2:25 fun fact, if you watch the basehunters chasing video of the Joplin EF5, you can really see the tornado wedge out about like 10 seconds after touchdown.
I can imagine the the shell shock to see such devastation of your city even if you weren't directly affected. That was crazy even on news reports . Looked liked a WWII bombed city in the hardest hit areas that were leveled
Unbelievable how that Tornado just rolled through a city like that. It was unbelievable. I hate that National Geographic has taken down the video for this historic tornado. I don't get it!
I was there a few days after it hit to help, came back a few more times to help, every year after i go through back and even back in November 2023 i can still tell where the damage still is there. My memory of that time after it happened was the church destroyed but the big cross in front not even touched, i heard & talked with those who survived. Folks were amazed at all of the help donations and so much love. This will definitely be in my top 5 life experiences
My pain management used to be in the old hospital, then the temporary things, then the new hospital with the iron curtains & bulletproof glass... About 2 years after it happened, I went thru a suburbs that still looked like a giant checkerboard, houses here & there with lots of empty lots of pretty grass surrounded by sidewalks but still no houses - very eerie to be honest, but definitely drives home the "what they came back from" without a doubt.
Google street view in joplin 2012 is the closest you can get to looking at a post apocoliptic city, truly terrible event and my heart goes out to all effected
I know someone who lived through this tornado, they were only 9 blocks away from the path and since the sirens didn't go off near them they had no idea there was such a serious tornado happening so close by until it had already come through. They lost several friends and one of their cousins. Apparently the city sounded sirens often in the past that wound up being false alarms, and it ended up luring people into a false sense of security, to the point that there was a frequent joke among people from Joplin about how "Tornadoes don't hit Joplin". Since the high school was destroyed, for the next few years they held classes in the local mall.
I was living in Arkansas at the time. Just finished building two Walgreens in Joplin. Moved to California a few months before the tornado. I heard they were totally destroyed
The block I grew up on had 3 houses left. 21st and Virginia. The one I grew up in was one of them. My cousin and her baby was in the house at the corner just 4 houses down from mine. Her house was destroyed but she and her baby survived uninjured. My great aunt and uncle survived a tornado on the block right next to Franklin Tech. There was nothing left of their house but sticks. Schifferdecker is oddly pronounced Schiffendecker by many local Joplinites. My dad's 1st cousin's husband was trapped in that Dillons after the tornado.
Dillon's was never rebuilt. I wonder if the owners were also among the victims? So sorry for all the loss. It stands to reason if the entire family died in the tornado, why the lot their house stood on remained empty. Just heart breaking. 😢
I think El Reno deserves a shot even though it crossed mostly fields, you can still see its scar on standard google maps, I really like this. I study maps and alot for this reason
My house is 2 blocks from where everything was leveled. It was built in the 1920's with heartwood. Extremely hard wood that's ridiculously expensive to source now. The cheap pine housing contractors use nowadays are popsicle sticks in comparison. The houses that were built in the empty blocks look odd, out of place, built quickly and cheap like most modern homes. If my house was built like modern houses are now, it would've been leveled instead of only needing a new roof and windows. However nothing was left intact in that path, reguardless of how solid its construction. Even today, there's still empty blocks without trees, it's eerie. But instead of rebuilding South Middle and Joplin High schools where the old schools remained, the city bought more land to build much bigger, nicer schools with bunkers for basements.
The tornado reached EF-5 at St. Johns Medical Center. I believe the worst damage was just to the east of the high school, although at that point it doesn't really matter when you're talking about catastrophic damage. What's incredible is that the thunderstorm doesn't even start raining until it drops the tornado. The southern half of the storm literally forms as it drops the tornado: th-cam.com/video/xAm1jHL8GIU/w-d-xo.html
There's security camera footage from inside both Joplin High School and Joplin East Middle School. It gives you the creeps and also a sense of relief at knowing that it could have been much worse if the tornado hit Joplin during the week.
Ill always remember hearing about a youtuber Will Norton who had just graduated and died in his hummer on Schifferdecker, they found him in one of those ponds. I will also always remember the video inside the gas station where they survived in the cooler. I was in high school when this happened and youtube was just getting huge
Actually, just after the spot where you said it hit peak damage, it intensified even more, as prevailing winds tried pushing it North. The rear flank downdraft must have been disgustingly monstrous where it cycled back into the boundary winds. To this day you can still discern the path of the Moore OK EF5 too. As someone who doesn't have to suffer these behemoths of nature in Ireland, you all have my respects and condolences. Nobody should have to suffer that.
Driving to Branson, Missouri from Tulsa, Oklahoma I can still see the trees that were ripped apart during this tornado. Our last visit which was just a month ago (May 2021) I noticed that if you don’t know what you’re looking for, you wouldn’t be able to tell. Still, buts of evidence are there if you look hard enough.
While visiting a family friend, he gave me a tour of the path of destruction. Even years later, in 2015 or 16, it was evident. They had some construction going on, and you could see the detail of what goes into the current building standards, and how all the new houses have shelters.
I drove into Joplin in 2014 down Rangeline to 20th and drove west. There were more empty lots than buildings and very young trees. There were apartments and small professional buildings. We turned around in a lot across from the high school which is a Latter Day Saints Church or was in 2014. But as we turned and faced the school I lost my breath. It is strikingly beautiful. What a monument to the spirit of Joplin honoring the people who died and those who were deeply effected by the destruction. We had a lesser tornado in Omaha when I was 13 - 5/6/75.
I lived in that small suburb called Duenweg you can see at the beginning of the video when this happened. It might have hit my area after leaving Joplin but it curved south east toward 32nd St.
I went to school in Kansas City, we had a donation drive the day after and some classroom discussions in the auditorium. A couple kids actually moved from there a couple years earlier and recognized a lot of the area.
Just saw on Google Maps. And wow, you can still see the path of the tornado where there still aren’t any of those big trees we did have before the tornado. This is crazy
The bank vault reminds be of Chiyoko Miysufuji, who was in a vault in Hiroshima on Aug 6, 1945, about 4/10 mile from ground zero. Wind speeds were around 600 mph, which would be an EF10. How she survive the neutrons, I do not know.
We live right next to joplin , the clean up was the worst part , I remember they where still finding body's over a month after clean up started . One was under a dumpster behind a liquor store
Can you do a video on the tornado that hit fort Oglethorpe Ga into Tn on Easter 2020? Or the April 2011 tornado that hit Ringgold Ga. I live in ringgold and my moms house was directly hit, her house was one of the only ones that survived.
My Ranch is South West Plains Missouri that evening I started packing the dump truck and loaded the backhoe. The following morning friends with their trucks and I headed off to Joplin with chainsaws food and water to do what we could. I still get teary-eyed at the things we witnessed in that aftermath. We in the Ozarks are very resilient and stick together. In 2017 West Plains received 15 -17 in of rain in 3 hours. Second heaviest rainfall ever recorded. Half the town was under water. The water came so fast that creaks spread out miles wide. Even washed big rigs off Highway 63. And Thomasville a small town that had been there since 1802 with never any flooding was washed away. The Super Walmart in Pocahontas was completely submerged. A month later anyone driving through with not had no one much had happened.
man i remember this i was like 5 and i remember my dad trying to record it and my step mom under our mattress in the hallway holding me tight as my dad runs inside. my room and the kitchen didnt even get touched
Hey Thanks so much! So Im using Google Earth Pro which can be downloaded from the google earth website. In google earth pro, they have a feature which allows you to look at historical satellite imagery. The online version of Google Earth does not allow the use of historical satellite imagery.
Funny enough I live in Joplin and the St. Jonah never got rebuilt all they did was put a new mercy hospital in. And what you where looking at is I believe the Joplin middle school. I was 9 when this happened.
Tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, wildfires, blizzards, tsunamis, and earthquakes simultaneously scare me to death and fascinate me. They are incredibly complex scientific phenomenon, but they also are eternal reminders that no matter how much humanity advances, we will never truly conquer or protect ourselves from the natural world.
i lived there was there for the f5 and habe family there still. to date it is a shock driving througj mid town east to west. the landscape forever changed the site lines
From what I heard; the Joplin emergency management team had till the end of the summer of 2011 (4 months) to clean up everything from the tornado. The first month was strictly search and rescue.
There use to be a big organized bike ride in Joplin called the Tornado Alley. Still have the T-Shirt. This is the tornado where they started taking them more seriously.
Tornado ropes out in the sparsely populated areas beyond the freeway. Of course It almost couldn't have possibly hit a more populated part of the greater Joplin area, including major infrastructure like St John's hospital. Def a great overview of this monster tornado's path. Twenty Minutes In May is also a really good video chronicling the destruction and subsequent rescue, recovery, and rebuilding of the city. Hopefully in the areas not struck by the tornado they still retrofitted or installed shelters for, God forbid, future storms of this magnitude so that lives may be spared.
11:10 where the person is filming the storm is so telling about us. Just seconds to a minute away is a F5 300+ tornado and people are observing the traffic laws. The very thought of running a light, blowing the horn, doing a U turn is so engrained into us, many get caught in their cars rather than break a minor traffic law.
so forever altered. it was terrifying and it is unlikely the city will ever see such a facelift in moments again. nor will the people likely endure such horro and tragedy...
Good video but I feel like the Joplin tornado study needs a total do-over especially when compared to your Moore and Tuscaloosa videos. The Joplin tornado was one of the worst tornadoes of all time and had a significantly higher number of deaths compared to the other two. More time in this video study was focused on the new buildings than the actual damage portion and what the tornado was doing at different times like you illustrated in the Moore video. The Home Depot was decimated in Joplin and had multiple deaths. Not hating at all I’m just saying this as a fan because I love your style. I hope one day you can do an update to the Joplin tornado with a more in depth analysis of the damage itself and where a lot of the fatalities took place. I’ve been looking into several tornado stories and I remember the Joplin one being the most terrifying. Check out some TH-cam documentaries on it for inspiration. Would love an extended version from you in your style of analysis. Keep up the great work!!
I was 2 years old and lived in one of the nicer neighborhoods and our house got absolutely obliterated, and our basement completely collapsed yet we got out mostly ok, my dad has hearing problems and I also have some less severe ear damage and a scar on my forehead from a wood rafter falling. Both of my neighbors on both sides of us died sadly, one because the concrete wall came down on them and the other from fire. Very sad day for Joplin and can remember a small bit of it even from my age.
I live on the Kansas side and go into Joplin quite a bit. Aside from a bunch of empty lots and no big trees you would never know the area had been totally destroyed. They have done an awesome job of rebuilding. Great video too, very informative.
Thanks so much!
If you've never been there you would never know. Those of us who know the area will always see the scars.
I still don't recognize some places without all the tall trees. I lived at 7th and Jackson ave when it hit. Moved to Galena Ks in 2017
@@TexasbyStorm Exactly. Saginaw my home "town", & as someone over 50 Joplin to me is a totally different place from the perspective of how the landscape was forever changed. Just doesn't feel like the same town anymore. When right after you could see St. John's from Rangeline, too weird.
I think the bunch of empty lots and the lack of trees pretty clearly indicates that the place was trashed would a reasonable person say so?
Good friend of mine was a trucker durning this time, he said he stopped in Joplin an hour before the storm struck. He said he had this very bad sinking feeling in the bottom of his bowels and decided to break DOT ruling and drive up the road another 30 miles. Less than 20 minutes after leaving, the tornado struck and he said that was the only time he really listened to his gut. He passed away in 2021 to multiple organ cancer. RIP "Grumpy Doug"
My mother lost her home at 2221 S Kentucky~ We are fortunate she survived in the bathtub as the house came down. It gives me chills to know she was right in the middle of the path and at the most intense stage of the tornado.
Rest in peace for the souls lost on that day.
Thats insane.. Im so glad she was okay!
So glad your mom was okay! My grandma survived the Moore/MWC May 3, 1999 in her bathtub also. It was the only thing left.
Hi there I don’t know if you should show the address or tell people about it online but I’m definitely so happy that your mother was OK ☺️
@@cloudblazer6807 I second that, unless she moved. LOL
It's a bit of a risk living in the tornado alley. I think living further upstate would be preferred.
I live in Joplin and was there it was the loudest sound you will ever hear. The amount of force the wind had on the house and the stuff in the air was horrible. There is a cross there that stood the whole time and I still go to that same school.
If you've never seen a video of the birth of this tornado, look it up. It's incredible. I've never seen a tornado go from a rope to a wedge so fast in my life.
I don't know if I've seen that.. Its so difficult to find good footage of this tornado with all the rain.. I'll check it out!
Oh definitely!!
@@SwegleStudios th-cam.com/video/2rAos8n4Mew/w-d-xo.html
The footage is plain nuts!
Rope to a massive wedge in less than a minute!
@@d.dementedengineerc99isurf26 same thing Jarrell tornado did. From rope to wedge in about a minute!
The amount of warning that Joplin had for this storm was very small. That cell went from just a strong thunderstorm, to an EF5 tornado in literally 20-25 minutes. I remember watching something on a local channel, and all of sudden they cut to a freaking wedge funnel barreling towards the city.
Not really - it was considered above the national average and around 17-20 minutes. Most residents apparently disregarded the sirens as they had heard them many times before, and waited for additional confirmation that something else was indeed happening.
I can’t find watch data for the area, but I’m assuming it was under multiple severe weather watches for the entire day most likely.
People (and organizations, schools, businesses) really need to respect these watches and warnings more, otherwise what’s the point?
More like ignorance than anything. Look at the spc data for that day.
The tornado went from a wall cloud to a wedge in about 7 seconds , and reached EF5 strength in under 10 min
Many before the tornado would have told you if the sirens sounded it meant nothing, just wait in the bathtub or on the porch and nothing will happen. Ask anyone today in Joplin who lived through it, and they never miss a watch nor warning ever. Most who rebuilt installed storm shelters, even those who didn’t have their homes destroyed now have above ground vault-styled tornado shelters. The reaction is very different today
EDIT: The reason I know is I’ve had family who have lived in Joplin for decades (all of whom lived, by God’s Grace), and now reside in Joplin myself
I went into the jonesboro tornado in 2020. I saw a bunch of people comparing it to joplin and tuscaloosa because of how fast they intensified. And they were not lying. They came out of nowhere
Great job on this video. I stayed for around a week afterwards with a group of chasers. I will never forget the destruction & loss of life. You really captured what happened there & I appreciate the hard work.
We were 24th/Virginia (1 block east of Main).
We were so fortunate.
In all my life I'd never seen such a great example of human goodness. People poured in from everywhere to help. It just touched your soul.
Thank you, to all who rushed in to help us all.
21st and Virginia. My childhood home is one of three original houses on that block now. Took out the amazing walnut tree in the back yard, but it seems the walnut tree is regrowing in the stump that was left behind. Not nearly as majestic as it used to be.
In terms of looking at tornado before/after damage on google maps, this one and greensburg are the most mind blowing. The path is so clearly visible in this one, but if you look up the greensburg kansas tornado of 2007, it literally looks like someone dropped a nuclear bomb in the center of the town. It's unreal.
It’s hard to imagine all of those houses being leveled in such a large radius.
It's hard to fathom even when you saw it. I visited 4 months later. My second cousin's house was in the middle of it. Thankfully, they weren't home at the time. The only thing left standing was the bathroom.
As a nurse I can not imagine the power going off, realizing you won't have generator power and realizing you have more intubated patients than nurses. They didn't have enough warning to move the patients together. I've read some of them tried to stay and bag them instead of taking cover but they were forced down by debris when the windows blew. I just can't imagine what that would be like.
I drove through that area a few years ago and it was weird seeing all of the missing trees. It's also a very hilly area. They didn't just rebuild Joplin. They thrived after the tornado.
Strange to say but it was the best thing to happen to the area in a long time. Things came back so much stronger.
@@NOOOOOOO0OOOOO I know quite a few families that would disagree that it was " the best thing to happen to the area in a long time". My Son in Law was with Joplin police at the time and claims that they recovered more than 158 bodies.
@@NOOOOOOO0OOOOO Yeah, if you look at the recent map, they built everything back twice as big and I bet they have better safeguards now too.
Hey man I've watched all 3 of the videos you've uploaded and they are great videos! Keep up the good work. I'm subscribing!
Great video. Your work and thought into this shows and Is appreciated. My house and family were lucky enough to be spared by 4 blocks south of the edge where it hit the high school. What I can remember vividly is months after, driving across town to go visit my parents was that you could easily get lost in a place that you have lived your whole life. There were times when I pulled up to an intersection and didn't know exactly where I was because there wasn't a single building or marker, it was total devastation. Your video shows that very well and you did a great job of showing before, after, and rebuild. The lives lost, the homes destroyed, and the hero's that flocked from all over the world to lend us a hand will never be forgotten. We are Joplin Strong!
I've never seen a tornado go from two rope funnels to a massive wedge in literally 10 seconds. Insane.
I have not seen before or since the Joplin tornado. Watching the video it looked like the tornado was not gonna get organized to do anything but something click with the storm and it touchdown and grew into a wedge.
It actually formed the “dead man walking” just before it blew up into the massive wedge.
@@Razainthewoods I went back and watched and you're correct. I don't know how I missed that as I've watched that video 100 times at least. Good eyes bro👍.
I'm a survivor it was my graduation day so I will never forget. Definitely had no idea it was happening didn't hear any sirens. Me and girlfriend at the time drove right into it. It was the scariest thing I have ever experienced
Joplin local here! The section you zoomed into next to the new caseys on 20th street, near the new library. That big empty field is now huge brand new apartment building. A couple of them! So amazing to see the town STILL rebuilding. And we still have very few trees through here!
The house at 4:15 should have played the lottery that night. I’ve went to Joplin last year and played baseball at the high school. You can just feel the energy it left behind idk maybe I’m crazy but it was a weird feeling. As you said “war zone” that’s a good explanation.
You're not crazy. I visited the memorial they have in Joplin a few years ago when I happened to be driving through town. I felt such a strong energy there that I had never felt before. I swear I had like a weird 6th sense where I could just immediately tell when a storm was nearby for like a whole month after my visit.
@@stormycat774 exactly! Thank you for the reply! I asked people on my team if they had the same feeling and they didn’t. Thought I was just weird but I’ve always been sensed energy good or bad. There is a weird energy there forsure.
GREAT INFORMATION AND ILLUSTRATIONS TO SHOW US WHAT REALLY HAPPENED.
I had living there on that very deadly, very destructive, and very traumatic tornado in fact, 2 of my cousins lost their homes there from that tornado. Fortunately for them and their immediate family members,
2:25
fun fact, if you watch the basehunters chasing video of the Joplin EF5, you can really see the tornado wedge out about like 10 seconds after touchdown.
Very sad day for many here in Missouri. I lived in Desoto at the time and there was kind of a somber mood throughout town.
Won't be too long now before the 10th anniversary of this monster...
I can imagine the the shell shock to see such devastation of your city even if you weren't directly affected. That was crazy even on news reports
. Looked liked a WWII bombed city in the hardest hit areas that were leveled
I love that this is the second video on your channel also the fact you have covered it a couple times on your channel most people dont talk about it
Nice work. I like how you added the video right before and after. Subscribed.
Thanks!
Love these videos. Thank you for a clearly narrated and organized description of the path of these tornados.
That’s amazing! Nice how you describe the areas then and now.. glad they are rebuilding! Such a loss!
I grew up in Joplin. I came back shortly after the tornado and it was completely unrecognizable.
Unbelievable how that Tornado just rolled through a city like that. It was unbelievable. I hate that National Geographic has taken down the video for this historic tornado. I don't get it!
My in laws lost their hotel in this tornado. They are still dealing with the lawyers in 2021. It was a total loss
Thats awful.. Hopefully everything will get sorted out for them soon!
@@SwegleStudios You missed more info. The tornado formed from a rope tornado to a wedge in 15-20 seconds
Why? Are they arguing over what caused the damage?
@@mssha1980 I don't know why there is still an argument on court about it. All I know is what I said above.
@@sinnedsinister Sorry to hear... dealing with lawyers after sounds like the worst.
I was there a few days after it hit to help, came back a few more times to help, every year after i go through back and even back in November 2023 i can still tell where the damage still is there. My memory of that time after it happened was the church destroyed but the big cross in front not even touched, i heard & talked with those who survived. Folks were amazed at all of the help donations and so much love. This will definitely be in my top 5 life experiences
That tornado was an absolutely monster.
My pain management used to be in the old hospital, then the temporary things, then the new hospital with the iron curtains & bulletproof glass... About 2 years after it happened, I went thru a suburbs that still looked like a giant checkerboard, houses here & there with lots of empty lots of pretty grass surrounded by sidewalks but still no houses - very eerie to be honest, but definitely drives home the "what they came back from" without a doubt.
This video is SOOO GOOOOD!! such great narative and in depth look!! Great info! Love it! I subscribed!!
What an interesting channel. This is very addictive and it's very informative and awesome to imagine how these storms develop and the paths they take.
Google street view in joplin 2012 is the closest you can get to looking at a post apocoliptic city, truly terrible event and my heart goes out to all effected
I know someone who lived through this tornado, they were only 9 blocks away from the path and since the sirens didn't go off near them they had no idea there was such a serious tornado happening so close by until it had already come through. They lost several friends and one of their cousins.
Apparently the city sounded sirens often in the past that wound up being false alarms, and it ended up luring people into a false sense of security, to the point that there was a frequent joke among people from Joplin about how "Tornadoes don't hit Joplin".
Since the high school was destroyed, for the next few years they held classes in the local mall.
Good video. Can’t get over “turnado”.
Im getting better, I promise haha
it's just as much of a turnado as it is a tornado lol
The turnado destroyed the libary? Say it ain't so! All jokes of course, we know what he means and that's good enough for me.
I swear, if I lived in an area like this my house would be a reinforced concrete dome with an underground garage.
What is the program you are using to change the date of the satellite earth view?
I was living in Arkansas at the time. Just finished building two Walgreens in Joplin. Moved to California a few months before the tornado. I heard they were totally destroyed
Dude, your videos are fantastic! Please keep them coming
The block I grew up on had 3 houses left. 21st and Virginia. The one I grew up in was one of them. My cousin and her baby was in the house at the corner just 4 houses down from mine. Her house was destroyed but she and her baby survived uninjured. My great aunt and uncle survived a tornado on the block right next to Franklin Tech. There was nothing left of their house but sticks. Schifferdecker is oddly pronounced Schiffendecker by many local Joplinites.
My dad's 1st cousin's husband was trapped in that Dillons after the tornado.
Dillon's was never rebuilt. I wonder if the owners were also among the victims? So sorry for all the loss. It stands to reason if the entire family died in the tornado, why the lot their house stood on remained empty. Just heart breaking. 😢
I think El Reno deserves a shot even though it crossed mostly fields, you can still see its scar on standard google maps, I really like this. I study maps and alot for this reason
Deserves a shot for what? There was no competition stated in the title or ever even mentioned in this entire video.
My house is 2 blocks from where everything was leveled. It was built in the 1920's with heartwood. Extremely hard wood that's ridiculously expensive to source now. The cheap pine housing contractors use nowadays are popsicle sticks in comparison. The houses that were built in the empty blocks look odd, out of place, built quickly and cheap like most modern homes. If my house was built like modern houses are now, it would've been leveled instead of only needing a new roof and windows. However nothing was left intact in that path, reguardless of how solid its construction. Even today, there's still empty blocks without trees, it's eerie. But instead of rebuilding South Middle and Joplin High schools where the old schools remained, the city bought more land to build much bigger, nicer schools with bunkers for basements.
The tornado reached EF-5 at St. Johns Medical Center. I believe the worst damage was just to the east of the high school, although at that point it doesn't really matter when you're talking about catastrophic damage. What's incredible is that the thunderstorm doesn't even start raining until it drops the tornado. The southern half of the storm literally forms as it drops the tornado: th-cam.com/video/xAm1jHL8GIU/w-d-xo.html
There's security camera footage from inside both Joplin High School and Joplin East Middle School. It gives you the creeps and also a sense of relief at knowing that it could have been much worse if the tornado hit Joplin during the week.
The said most of the deaths were in this area just east of the high school. The areas with most of the lots from homes that were never rebuilt.
@@Og-Judyactually, the largest area of deaths were on range line road.
Ill always remember hearing about a youtuber Will Norton who had just graduated and died in his hummer on Schifferdecker, they found him in one of those ponds.
I will also always remember the video inside the gas station where they survived in the cooler. I was in high school when this happened and youtube was just getting huge
Actually, just after the spot where you said it hit peak damage, it intensified even more, as prevailing winds tried pushing it North. The rear flank downdraft must have been disgustingly monstrous where it cycled back into the boundary winds. To this day you can still discern the path of the Moore OK EF5 too.
As someone who doesn't have to suffer these behemoths of nature in Ireland, you all have my respects and condolences. Nobody should have to suffer that.
Driving to Branson, Missouri from Tulsa, Oklahoma I can still see the trees that were ripped apart during this tornado. Our last visit which was just a month ago (May 2021) I noticed that if you don’t know what you’re looking for, you wouldn’t be able to tell. Still, buts of evidence are there if you look hard enough.
great video you should do more on tornado paths
Just stumbled on your channel really enjoyed the videos I've watched so far! Will you be doing a video on the El Reno tornado!?
While visiting a family friend, he gave me a tour of the path of destruction. Even years later, in 2015 or 16, it was evident.
They had some construction going on, and you could see the detail of what goes into the current building standards, and how all the new houses have shelters.
I drove into Joplin in 2014 down Rangeline to 20th and drove west. There were more empty lots than buildings and very young trees. There were apartments and small professional buildings. We turned around in a lot across from the high school which is a Latter Day Saints Church or was in 2014. But as we turned and faced the school I lost my breath. It is strikingly beautiful. What a monument to the spirit of Joplin honoring the people who died and those who were deeply effected by the destruction. We had a lesser tornado in Omaha when I was 13 - 5/6/75.
I lived in that small suburb called Duenweg you can see at the beginning of the video when this happened. It might have hit my area after leaving Joplin but it curved south east toward 32nd St.
That is so scary. 😔Thx 4 making this clip.
I went to school in Kansas City, we had a donation drive the day after and some classroom discussions in the auditorium. A couple kids actually moved from there a couple years earlier and recognized a lot of the area.
Just saw on Google Maps. And wow, you can still see the path of the tornado where there still aren’t any of those big trees we did have before the tornado. This is crazy
You have a very good ASMR voice it's awesome soft spoken and relaxing
The bank vault reminds be of Chiyoko Miysufuji, who was in a vault in Hiroshima on Aug 6, 1945, about 4/10 mile from ground zero. Wind speeds were around 600 mph, which would be an EF10. How she survive the neutrons, I do not know.
We live right next to joplin , the clean up was the worst part , I remember they where still finding body's over a month after clean up started . One was under a dumpster behind a liquor store
I love your videos , keep up the good work. Rip Will Norton
Great presentation. Thank you 😊
Really like the before and after footage. Thanks.
Can you do a video on the tornado that hit fort Oglethorpe Ga into Tn on Easter 2020? Or the April 2011 tornado that hit Ringgold Ga. I live in ringgold and my moms house was directly hit, her house was one of the only ones that survived.
you should really do the hackleburg ef5 tornado that one was deadly
This video of the Hackleburg EF5 blows my mind th-cam.com/video/CW7i4CbYLEQ/w-d-xo.htmlsi=4EsUckX_FYZCXgtU
I see my house that was west of Shiffendecker.
Still working on rebuilding homes
Wasn't Will Norton found in a pond near Shiffendecker. I know his Hummer was found obliterated. His dad survived but badly injured.
@@brentcoin7600 Schifferdecker
My Ranch is South West Plains Missouri that evening I started packing the dump truck and loaded the backhoe. The following morning friends with their trucks and I headed off to Joplin with chainsaws food and water to do what we could. I still get teary-eyed at the things we witnessed in that aftermath.
We in the Ozarks are very resilient and stick together.
In 2017 West Plains received 15 -17 in of rain in 3 hours. Second heaviest rainfall ever recorded. Half the town was under water. The water came so fast that creaks spread out miles wide. Even washed big rigs off Highway 63. And Thomasville a small town that had been there since 1802 with never any flooding was washed away. The Super Walmart in Pocahontas was completely submerged. A month later anyone driving through with not had no one much had happened.
So educational. Thanks for your presentation!
😎✌️🤙🤘😎
man i remember this i was like 5 and i remember my dad trying to record it and my step mom under our mattress in the hallway holding me tight as my dad runs inside. my room and the kitchen didnt even get touched
How many miles was it on the ground during that 30+ minutes it was on the ground?
thanks for this i just discovered your videos this is a really good overview... very sad though...
btw there's a decent weather channel documentary about it too look for "tornado alley - real time tornado joplin"
I would like to see you do the 2011 Smithville Tornado. That tornado was a beast
Very interesting 👍👍
Its crazy how much is rebuilt in less than a decade. Almost unbelievable.
Do you mind telling me how to do this/where to go? I would like to look at this myself and also you did a great job on the video.
Hey Thanks so much! So Im using Google Earth Pro which can be downloaded from the google earth website. In google earth pro, they have a feature which allows you to look at historical satellite imagery. The online version of Google Earth does not allow the use of historical satellite imagery.
Funny enough I live in Joplin and the St. Jonah never got rebuilt all they did was put a new mercy hospital in. And what you where looking at is I believe the Joplin middle school. I was 9 when this happened.
St. John’s*
The name was changed from St. John's to Mercy.
So fascinating and informative, great job!!
You forgot to look at East Middle school, it was that large lot towards the end of the video that was in the EF4-EF3 part of the path.
I worked this distruction as a utility worker, something terrible.
Still remember 10 years later. Great to see how the city is being rebuilt though.
Tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, wildfires, blizzards, tsunamis, and earthquakes simultaneously scare me to death and fascinate me. They are incredibly complex scientific phenomenon, but they also are eternal reminders that no matter how much humanity advances, we will never truly conquer or protect ourselves from the natural world.
Good video, very detailed.
i lived there was there for the f5 and habe family there still. to date it is a shock driving througj mid town east to west. the landscape forever changed the site lines
From what I heard; the Joplin emergency management team had till the end of the summer of 2011 (4 months) to clean up everything from the tornado. The first month was strictly search and rescue.
Good thing to note that my Safety deposit box will be safe in case of EF5 Tornado.
Very detailed and informative. New sub and looking forward to new vids.
Thanks!
Fantastic work again!##
There use to be a big organized bike ride in Joplin called the Tornado Alley. Still have the T-Shirt. This is the tornado where they started taking them more seriously.
Can you do the Vilonia, AR tornado from 2014? These videos are fascinating as it gives a different perspective.
Tornado ropes out in the sparsely populated areas beyond the freeway. Of course
It almost couldn't have possibly hit a more populated part of the greater Joplin area, including major infrastructure like St John's hospital. Def a great overview of this monster tornado's path.
Twenty Minutes In May is also a really good video chronicling the destruction and subsequent rescue, recovery, and rebuilding of the city. Hopefully in the areas not struck by the tornado they still retrofitted or installed shelters for, God forbid, future storms of this magnitude so that lives may be spared.
11:10 where the person is filming the storm is so telling about us.
Just seconds to a minute away is a F5 300+ tornado and people are observing the traffic laws.
The very thought of running a light, blowing the horn, doing a U turn is so engrained into us, many get caught in their cars rather than break a minor traffic law.
Great analysis!
Sadly, the storm reached peak intensity just as it reached older homes that were built early or mid century and built very poorly.
Great job. Very interesting content. Thanks.
so forever altered. it was terrifying and it is unlikely the city will ever see such a facelift in moments again. nor will the people likely endure such horro and tragedy...
If they have the satellite data, could you do one for the Americus, GA 2007 tornado?
Great video!
Good video but I feel like the Joplin tornado study needs a total do-over especially when compared to your Moore and Tuscaloosa videos. The Joplin tornado was one of the worst tornadoes of all time and had a significantly higher number of deaths compared to the other two. More time in this video study was focused on the new buildings than the actual damage portion and what the tornado was doing at different times like you illustrated in the Moore video. The Home Depot was decimated in Joplin and had multiple deaths.
Not hating at all I’m just saying this as a fan because I love your style. I hope one day you can do an update to the Joplin tornado with a more in depth analysis of the damage itself and where a lot of the fatalities took place. I’ve been looking into several tornado stories and I remember the Joplin one being the most terrifying. Check out some TH-cam documentaries on it for inspiration. Would love an extended version from you in your style of analysis. Keep up the great work!!
You used google earth for the first part?
I was 2 years old and lived in one of the nicer neighborhoods and our house got absolutely obliterated, and our basement completely collapsed yet we got out mostly ok, my dad has hearing problems and I also have some less severe ear damage and a scar on my forehead from a wood rafter falling. Both of my neighbors on both sides of us died sadly, one because the concrete wall came down on them and the other from fire. Very sad day for Joplin and can remember a small bit of it even from my age.
These tornado path videos are awesome. Not for the people involved
5:36 former student at Irving elementary in Joplin, that's definitely Irving next to the memorial