I spoke to family members this evening. Everyone is exhausted, but in remarkably good spirits. Despite ongoing thunderstorms, they spent the day sifting through debris at the house and uncovered some important items, such as my brother’s wallet and cell phone.
A group of teenagers from a church in Carthage was walking through the devastated area offering help. Thanks to their efforts, seven of my brother’s eight dogs have been found alive and uninjured. The dogs were under rubble in the back part of the house, which was flattened. The eighth dog has not yet been found.
My brother was asleep in an inner bedroom when the tornado struck. He was awakened by what sounded like an explosion. He said his first thought was that he was back in VietNam.
I went to college in Springfield, and spent many weekends with friends in Joplin. The devastation is heartbreaking. The town has changed substantially in the 20 years since I’ve been there, but there were still many familiar places in the images of destruction.
laina_f, your family and friends and their whole community will remain in my thoughts and prayers.
For those of you familiar with Joplin, my understanding is that the tornado traveled from west to east, angling slightly north. The breadth of the tornado was from 26th Street to 12th Street.
St. John’s Hospital at 27th & McClelland was hit, then Joplin High School (destroyed) at 20th & Indiana, then the Walmart and Home Depot (both destroyed) at 15th & Rangeline.
For those not familiar with the city, this is pretty much the southern half of Joplin.
Currently it’s being reported that the tornado (classified as EF4) formed close to the state line, about 5 miles west of Joplin, touched down inside the city, and was on the ground for about four miles.
Hey laina_f I know the people of Joplin have bigger things on their plates right now, but please come back to this thread in about three months and tell me where the kids of Joplin are going to go to school while JHS gets re-built, OK?
The swathe I described above from 12th to 26th Street, *six *miles long west to east, is complete devastation. If you have friends or relatives outside of this, they are probably okay.
Freeman Skills Center, at 32nd & Indiana (a mile from the high school), was not hit. Northridge Mall at 4th & Rangeline, was not hit.
HeyHomie: I’ll try to remember. Did you go to JHS? I did, but it was many years ago. If I recall correctly, for a while there was a second high school close to the downtown area. Maybe they’ll reopen that.
In the news: a teenage boy who was on his way home from a graduation party is missing. It appears that the tornado pulled him through the sunroof of his car.
The Weather Gods continue to dump on Joplin. To sift through the debris of the house yesterday, my family had to brave heavy rain and a barrage of lightning strikes. This weather is expected to continue for the next couple of days.
No, just curiosity mainly. I’ve never heard of an entire school being wiped completely off the map, and I’m just trying to wrap my brain around where they’ll put all those kids.
I’m glad your brother, parents and their pets are safe, laina_f. I can’t even imagine how terrified you must have been!
It was a much smaller tornado and there was much less damage, but in 2005 a tornado hit Hamilton, Ontario and basically destroyed one elementary school and a handful of houses. The school was damaged beyond repair (and I don’t remember the fate of the houses). 550 students were displaced while a new school was built - a process that took 2 years. They were put into older school buildings in the city that had actually been shut down/partially abandoned or into temporary “pod” classrooms placed on the campuses of other schools. Hamilton has the advantage of being a rather large city - about half a million - so the resources and placement will be harder in Joplin which is much smaller.
