Joplin Tornado Story Collection

This article serves as a collection of all the stories that aired on KSNF & KODE from May 14th, through May 22nd, 2021.

May 14th

Checking in with an Extreme Home Make Over family 10 years later
The Nguyen family; one of the seven EM:HE families that lost their home.

Joplin tornado before and after pictures
Interactive photo gallery with before & after pictures of locations that were hit in the storm.


May 15th


May 16th

Joplin tornado launched a series of public art throughout the community
How a local group’s project united the community and introduced a symbol of hope.


May 17th

Homeowner looks back on how Habitat for Humanity helped after the Joplin tornado
Thanks to the efforts of an area organization many who lost their home now have a place of their own.


May 18th

The story of hope and the cross that stood after the Joplin tornado 2011
One of the churches impacted by the tornado left something behind that continues to serve as a rally point for the community.


May 19th

How the city became “Joplin Strong” after the May 2011 tornado
When the EF-5 tornado swept through Joplin in 2011, the focus at city hall changed in an instant.

Duquesne: The other city that survived the powerful EF-5 tornado
While Joplin bore the brunt of Mother Nature’s wrath on May 22nd, 2011, it wasn’t the only community devastated by the storm.


May 20th

Mercy Hospital: An inside look at ‘ground zero’ of the Joplin tornado
Of all the buildings that were destroyed by the tornado, the Mercy Hospital building was one of the most critical.


May 21st


May 22nd

Inside the world of: tornado survivors Pt. 1
Hear from two survivors and their unique story of what they went through.

[ More to come ]

Will Norton Miracle Field continues the legacy of kindness and inclusion

JOPLIN, MO. — As we reflect on the events that occurred 10 years ago on May 22 in Joplin, so much has been done to make sure we never forget what happened that day.

One of those things was the creation of the Will Norton miracle field, home to the miracle league of Joplin. While it’s existence stemmed from an unthinkable tragedy, it’s since become a place of joy, unity and hope.

From afar, it may look like just a baseball field, but for members of the Joplin community, it’s so much more than that.

It’s namesake, Will Norton was one of the victims of the 2011 Joplin tornado. He was known for his kindness and his desire to make everyone he met feel welcomed and included. That’s exactly what the field reflects.

“Out here, everybody plays,” said Margie Black, whose serves on the board of directors. “Everyone gets it. There’s nothing but love on the field.”

Its a place specifically designed to accommodate those with disabilities and special needs. It’s where the miracle league of Joplin holds their baseball games. The league is for individuals with disabilities.

Black said she first got involved because of her son Scottie.

“It gave the kids a chance to play ball,” said Black. “Do something that probably typically weren’t going to get to experience. That team bonding on a field, playing ball, that social interaction, just the whole, everything that comes with playing a sport.”

That’s what drew the Shusters in. It was a chance for their daughter Kaylyn to be apart of something uniquely hers.

“Just something for her to look forward to that’s only hers,” said Angie Shuster. “I mean, other kids are doing all their sports events and other things and this is something that’s just…It’s her thing and allows her to be involved in something.”

It wasn’t just the inclusivity the Shusters loved, it was also the support and sense of community.

“This isn’t an easy life and if you don’t live it, it’s really kind of hard to explain and you don’t have to explain to anybody when you’re here because they get it,” said Mike Shuster.

While will may be gone, his spirit and everything he stood for in life lives on through the miracle league.

“To honor will in that way is I hope in some small way, brings comfort to his family,” said Black. “To know that so many people are experiencing such a joy-filled opportunity to just be like everybody else.”

Webb City church creates unique piece to honor Joplin tornado anniversary

WEBB CITY, Mo. (KSNF) – Members of an area church have a unique way to honor parishioners who were victims of the May 22nd, 2011 tornado.

Sixteen families that attend Mount Hope Church of Christ in Webb City lost their homes 10 years ago.

Dr. Karl Wendt says church members chose to pay-off the deductibles for each of the families.

The decision was also made to create a cross for the worship center, but not just any ordinary cross.

“Sent a representative, an artistic representative to each site and got a piece of debris, several pieces and put it together into that cross to represent the pain, the hurt, the heartache but also the hope and the faith of tragedy,” says Wendt, Family Life Minister, Mt. Hope Church of Christ.

Wendt says a husband and wife who attend the church were the ones who made the cross.

City prepares for Joplin tornado memorial run and ceremony

JOPLIN, Mo. (KODE) – There’s a lot of attention around Cunningham and Mercy parks at 26th and Maiden Lane, as the city of Joplin prepares to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the deadly tornado.

That included a special ceremony organized by Mercy Hospital Joplin.

Plus, tonight, around two thousand athletes are preparing for the Joplin Memorial Run tomorrow.

“Our motto is ‘Run, Remember, and Rebuild,'” says Bob Brown, Joplin Memorial Run Committee and Race MC.

Friday night, runners were lining up to pick up their run packets at Cunningham Park.

The park was lined with 161 flags with the names of all the tornado victims.

“I was talking to a lady who lost her son and I ask his name. She told me his name, and she said, ‘I wonder where his banner is.’ I said, ‘We will look for him. I cant quite see it now. They’re turned differently with the wind.’ And, about that time, his banner turned to me. It was really a touching moment for me and her,” says Brown.

The Joplin Memorial Run starts at 6:30 Saturday morning.

Across the street, Mercy Hospital Joplin held a ceremony at Mercy Park to reflect on May 22, 2011.

“It was really just that, to remember. It was to celebrate all the obstacles that we’ve overcome in those ten years with our coworkers,” says Jeremy Drinkwitz, President of Joplin Mercy Community.

The hospital held a prayer to open the ceremony and had guest speakers.

Hospital employees put markers throughout the park to signify where parts of St. Johns Regional Medical Center used to stand.

“This is just a day to say, yes, God’s grace has saved us and kept us as a healing ministry in this community and we want to continue that,” says Libby Clark, Emergency Room nurse.

Joplin is hosting a ten year remembrance ceremony at Cunningham Park starting at 3:00pm Saturday.

It is open to the public and they will read all 161 names of those who died.

Where Hope Lives, Part 2: The 21st Century education resulting from the Joplin tornado

JOPLIN, Mo. (KODE) – We continue our look back at the Joplin 2011 tornado and its impact on local students.

A string of new schools have opened up for class since that devastating storm, but it wasn’t just the facilities that needed replacing.

There were countless desks, chalkboards, and textbooks missing.

A tremendous loss led to a big opportunity.

“I did kind of always think it was big and but I went here all four years in my high school so I mean I kind of got used to it along the road,” says Olivia Putney, Joplin High School Senior.

Now, Putney appreciates the benefits of a big school for her future career in early childhood education.

“I have already been offered a position at a preschool program here in Joplin, so I feel like I’ll probably work that while I’m in college, full time,” she says.

Education at Joplin High School is very different than it was before the tornado.

What had been a traditional classroom wasn’t coming back.

“People had a lot of questions about, will there be textbooks, will there be this, will there be that?” says Justin Crawford, Joplin Schools.

Joplin school leaders decided to move Joplin High School to one-to-one education, one laptop for each of the 2,200 students.

“It was gonna be a new game, we’re gonna do things differently, a lot of things that we had kind of dabbled in or tried to a little small degree but we were really all in now we’re going to use computers in the classroom we’re going to use Google Docs, you know, we’re going to work more collaboratively with students,” says Dr. Kerry Sachetta, Joplin Schools Assistant Superintendent.

They didn’t have much time to get ready, starting with the teachers.

The timeline was on fast forward compared to other districts

“When you look at integrating a one to one program in a school district, you know, they look at a two to three year implementation plan and, and this was two to three months,” says Crawford.

They built in some extra support for instructors looking at their classrooms in a whole new way.

“Hire people to help teach our teachers,” says Sachetta.

Just distributing that many laptops was a big event, and then there were the charging stations and repair shops to deal with students learning to care for their own technology.

“I think there was a huge learning curve for all of us,” says Crawford.

The changes weren’t restricted to technology, but how students learn and the right environment to encourage that.

“You know, the sliding doors to allow those open we have other open spaces as well and so every room had a projector so that things could be presented on the walls. I know that they had walls that were special paint so they can be written on and wiped off like write boards and. And so there were a lot of those different things that were taken into consideration to allow different modes and avenues of learning,” says Crawford.

Even when students went to class changed.

“We put a new bell schedule,” says Sachetta.

School leaders started making changes at the temporary school at Northpark Mall, but built on to those advances with the permanent replacement.

Unique study spaces, areas designated for group instruction outside the classroom, even a coffee shop for students to get a taste of real world.

“To try to allow kids as many opportunities to learn as they can in the different ways that they learn is exciting, is something every school should do,” says Crawford.

So, after three years and $124 million, the Eagles had a new, high-tech nest giving students a new path toward a 21st century education.

'Take cover now!' – The three words that rang out over the city of Joplin on May 22, 2011

JOPLIN, Mo. (KSNF) – “Take cover now!” They are the words that rang out through the city of Joplin ten years ago.

We want to warn you, that some of this video could be sensitive for some viewers.

The voice on the television screen urges, “Take shelter now. It looks like this is a pretty powerful tornado.”

Former KSN weather forecaster Jeremiah Cook says, “I’ll never forget that night. You know I’ve lived here for 30 years and I’ve never seen something like that. When I see the video, there’s this sinking feeling.”

Anyone watching the television on May 22, 2011 remembers the chilling commands: “I am telling you to take cover, take cover right now. We do have a tornado on the ground. This is a tornado. This is a very dangerous situation.”

Cook recalls, “Oh my God, that’s how close I came. At first, I didn’t realize it was a tornado. I’ve seen plenty of videos of tornadoes, having gone to school, having worked in the business for as long as I had, I had seen videos of tornadoes. But it was one of those moments where, things were out of context. You know it’s easy to go back now and look and say yes that’s a tornado that was on the ground, but at the moment, I think it caught us all by surprise.”

Cook continues, “There was that what in the world is this that we’re looking at thing where you know, you don’t expect the tower cam to just come up and there’s the tornado and we transitioned into that okay, now we get everybody to take it seriously, we get people to take cover to take shelter. I think we all defaulted to it is our job to save as many people as we can. I wanted to make sure that I was there doing that for whoever needed it done for them at the moment.”

At that moment, someone he knew well needed it. KSN producer Marian Kelly was at home watching Jeremiah on TV.

“And Caitlin and Jeremiah were saying take cover now,” Kelly says.

She says it was the urgency in their voice that made her get into that crawl space.

“I could feel the air being sucked out of that crawlspace. And I thought this is how I’m going to die. And I was frankly a little surprised when it got over with and I was still alive,” Kelly says.

When asked if she credits people like Jeremiah with saving her life, she says, “Absolutely, In fact, I told them, I told Jeremiah and I told Caitlyn, I said you all saved my life. I would not have taken cover if you hadn’t used those exact words.”

“Personally, I think we did our jobs, I think we did what we were put here to do,” says Cook.

But the effects of that day – May 22nd, 2011 – still linger for both of them.

“I can’t look at it because, because it’s never not fresh,” says Kelly.

Cook says, “My wife gets on to me. And because every year around the tornado we talk about it and she’ll tell me you did everything you could you did everything you could. And I’ll tell her I can come up with 160 reasons we didn’t. When I was still predicting the weather I felt like I had to put a little more effort in every forecast I had to I had to try harder to be more on point with it. Because of that.”

Will Norton's impact and legacy ten years after the Joplin tornado

JOPLIN, Mo. (KODE) – The families of 161 people still mourn the loss of loved ones.

One of those losses was Will Norton, who lost his life while driving home from his high school graduation with his father.

As his family still deals with his death, they’re comforted to know his legacy continues.

“As sad as we are, ten years later, you know, we’re sad every day, but, it does give us some peace and joy knowing that he’s left behind some goodness in this world,” says Mark Norton, Will Norton’s Dad.

One of the most visible parts of his legacy is the Will Norton Miracle field at the Joplin Athletic Complex. A baseball field where those with disabilities can play, named in Will’s honor.

“We go out there and volunteer. The kids that can go out there and play baseball that couldn’t have before and and like I say its just a beautiful for the city. We’re proud of the field and we love seeing the children out playing and having a good time and doing things. They look forward to Saturdays and I know with the last year its been tough with COVID, but this fall they’re going to start back up again and we’re anxious to come up and maybe do some volunteering. But yeah, that’s a, that’s a soft spot in our heart,” says Norton.

Then, there’s Will’s Place, which is a facility at Freeman Health System dedicated to helping children with behavioral health.

Will’s Wall, a Facebook page set up by former Kansas City Chief Kendal Gammon, who used to be a neighbor of the Norton’s.

“Our kids, we got to go to the pro games and one day he gave Will a game ball and then Will, later in life, he painted his room and put Kendal’s number 83 on the wall and had the game ball. After Will passed, Kendal hadn’t seen that and he came to the house and he walked up the stairs to the room and I think it brought Kendal to his knees. And he just said that after that, his speaking deal is who are you going to give your game ball to. Little things in life can change someone else’s life,” says Norton.

Will was accepted to attend Chapman University’s film school in California. Even though he was never able to attend, the school thought of Will as one of their students.

“When he passed, the put his name up on the wall for students and teachers that had passed. And he’s the only person that hadn’t attended there that they actually put his name on the wall for. Then they named a presidential scholarship after him, which is pretty much a full ride and that’s a fifty thousand dollar a year school,” says Norton.

A scholarship at Joplin High School was also named in his honor.

While all of this won’t bring Will back, these honors are a way for his family to remember how much he meant to those he came in contact with.

“I think Will impacted a lot of people and we’re proud of him. And, you know, these aren’t things to be celebrated. They are things to make the hurt less. And we miss him everyday,” says Norton.

Hospital's perseverance in the aftermath of the Joplin tornado became a beacon of hope

JOPLIN, Mo. (KSNF) – When the night was still, in the middle of a pitch black abyss, a beacon of light rose above the darkness.

With one hospital incapacitated by one of the deadliest tornados ever, another did everything it could to stay functioning even though it had experienced $1.7 million in damage of its own.

The lines were blurred as doctors, nurses, and staff from Joplin’s two main hospitals came together at just one facility while hundreds of injured people lined the hallways.

“When I walked in, it was something unlike I had ever seen before,” recalls Paula Baker, Freeman Health System President & CEO.

“You prepare for it, but you’re always preparing for something that you think most likely will never happen,” says Daniel Caylor, Freeman Health System Director of Facilities Management.

Many of the medical staff to respond that fateful night knew this was going to be different.

Former Medical Oncology & Pediatric Director (current Freeman Neosho Chief Operating Officer) Renee Denton leaned over to her husband Bob, who was the former Emergency Trauma Center Director, as they made their way to the hospital that night.

“This is going to be really bad, isn’t it?” asked Renee.

Bob answered, “I said, ‘Well, we’re probably going to have to be here for a while.'”

“As far as you could see, there was people in every direction, crushing their way in, trying to get in,” says Caylor.

Bob Denton recalls, “There were people everywhere. In the front lobby, spilling into the outside parking lot, the driveways, and so forth.”

“Within about 15 minutes, we had 100 patients show up. And that tells you a great deal, when you have one patient showing up every 45 seconds, that’s something you can’t understand until you see it,” says Skip Harper, Freeman Health System Environmental Health Safety Officer.

“We did 22 life-saving surgeries within the first 12 hours. We had to access blood. We had to get all the patients triaged that were coming to the hospital. We had over 1500 people in our hospital that night,” Baker says.

Renee Denton adds, “It was shoulder to shoulder, people everywhere.”

Everyone – and they mean everyone – got right to work.

“We set up mobile surgery centers, we set up mobile triage areas. It as all about getting our team together and doing what they do best,” says Harper.

“There was emotional support being provided. There were people doing jobs that in any other circumstance, they would not have been doing,” says Renee Denton.

That includes Renee, herself who was helping her team care for even seriously injured patients in a make-shift room set up inside Freeman Health System.

She says, “I asked the incident commander, I said I think if I could take 4 or 5 of my medical nurses with me we could open up an area in the conference rooms and begin taking care of patients.”

The hospital’s now-President and CEO found herself in the temporary morgue holding the hands of those who were dying.

Baker recalls, “I didn’t want them to die without some comfort and without a human touch. And so, to sit there and hold their hand, give them (I hope) that comfort and reassurance that someone was there with them.”

Ask any of them, and they’ll tell you what they remember most that night:

“There were some horrific injuries and some that weren’t as bad, but people were surprisingly pretty quiet,” says Baker.

“It was quiet. Eerily quiet. There wasn’t people screaming, or people yelling. No, they were just in a state of shock,” says Caylor.

“We probably at one time had about 70 people in the conference rooms, 40 of which were patients, and it was as quiet as it is in this room right now,” says Caylor.

Step outside and you might have heard the hum of the hospital’s generators instead.

The Director of Facilities and his team made sure the hospital stayed running in the night.

“That night it was so dark in Joplin because the electricity was out in this whole end of town. But, we glowed in the night from our generator power,” says Baker.

“I remember being up on the tower and looking out over the entire city of Joplin, and it was completely black. But yet, here Freeman was lit,” says Caylor.

“When we were glowing through that dark, dark night, we know that was a Beacon of Hope for people. We knew they’d see the light of Freeman and know that we’re here for them and we’re going to be there for them throughout the duration of this catastrophe,” says Caylor.

Mercy Hospital: An inside look at 'ground zero' of the Joplin tornado

JOPLIN, Mo. (KODE) – Of all the buildings that were destroyed by the tornado, the Mercy Hospital building was one of the most critical.

Hundreds of lives were impacted by just that one building with hundreds of stories.

“Everybody took cover and we were there for what seemed like an eternity. Umm, and everybody did the best we could, you know. And we hit the middle of it and there was the moment when we all thought we were done and then the second part of it hit and we knew it was even worse than the first part. There’s moments, ‘Am I going home? Was this morning the last time I saw my family?'” says Kevin Kepley, Mercy RN Coronary Care Unit Night of May 22nd.

“In the closet, all I could think about was my family. But the minute we stepped out of that area, it was like go to work mode,” says Ashley Miller, Mercy RN Coronary Care Unit Night of May 22nd.

“I got a text message from the hospital saying the hospital had been hit. You know I told my husband, I said, ‘You know I gotta go.’ I got out of the truck and I said, ‘I’ll talk to you later.’ And I didn’t realize it would be another 27 hours before I went back,” says Miranda Lewis, Former Mercy Media Relations Coordinator.

Miller adds, “And even the ones that could walk, didn’t have shoes on and the glass and the debris everywhere was an obstacle. Because, we couldn’t ask them to walk on the glass. So, but we couldn’t find any belongings. So we were just like wrapping towels around their feet to try to get them to walk.”

Lewis says, “They were afraid that the hospital was going to explode, and so I remember running down 26th street and all at once like everything, the sound just closed. For whatever reason. And I remember thinking, I’m too close. And this thing goes and I’m a statistic. All at the time that I could think about was that my mom would have to hear it.”

“North side, you could look out the window and just see the path of destruction. And my heart sank, because I knew that we needed to help our people, be we also knew there was people that were really in bad shape out there,” says Kepley.

“The hospital is a beacon of hope and health. So, everybody who was hurt in the community, the first thing they do is, ‘We’ve gotta get to the hospital.’ But they didn’t know the hospital had been hit too,” says Miller.

Lewis says, “You know, we were helping bring people in on desk chairs, on doors, and just, you know, trying to just get people in. Obviously, Memorial Hall was overwhelmed pretty quickly and so they opened up McAuley.”

Kepley recalls, “Getting home at 3 AM, you know all my kids were asleep. But, that was the first thing that I did was just stood in their doorway and have that moment of reflection that I did get to see them again and there were going to be people that weren’t going to get to see their family. You feel sorry for them. Over the ten years, as you look back and you reflect, and as I’ve learned more and more about the sisters and realizing the stuff they go through and have went through, um, it gives you that sense of the resiliancy. And you realize that people, in general, and even the people who live here in this community that have been through this, um, there’s always a way.”

“So many people come into this life, leave this life. You know, you go through some of your best of times and worst of times in a hospital. And doing it at St. John’s, at Mercy that’s special. And so, I love the fact that they’ve kept the monuments and the statues and the care that they took to preserve what was here. And all of the lives that have come and gone over the years, on, on this ground,” says Lewis.