Tag Archives: Joplin Tornado

How the city became "Joplin Strong" after the May 2011 tornado

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JOPLIN, Mo. (KODE) – When the EF-5 tornado swept through Joplin in 2011, the focus at city hall changed in an instant.

It was “All Hands on Deck” in a search effort and a commitment to recover. Some of those programs even continue today.

“I heard the crack of glass breaking out of the windows around us. And then we started getting telephone calls,” says Gary Shaw, Joplin City Council.

Shaw quickly learned his city had sustained serious tornado damage.

It wasn’t long before he got a firsthand view of just how bad it was during a ride along the path of destruction with a Joplin police officer.

“And I thought I was in another world. I mean I thought I was someplace else, it certainly wasn’t Joplin. And none of those landmarks that we knew,” says Shaw.

He knew there was a lot of work to be done, both for city leaders and city workers.

Emergency responders combing through the destruction for survivors and victims, plus a massive cleanup to get rid of nearly three million cubic yards of debris.

Shaw recalls, “It was amazing to watch the streets being cleared and the properties been cleared. Yeah, there was some challenges, you know.”

One of the issues was how to let tornado survivors the next step in the recovery and what help was available.

“Obviously, people did not have a TV, they didn’t have a house in some cases, they may not have a car to listen to a radio. So we needed to find ways to reach out to people,” says Lynn Onstot, Joplin City PIO.

An emergency operations center was the headquarters for all the decision making.

They had staged mock disasters in the past, so there was a game plan, but the sheer magnitude of the destruction caused unforeseen issues.

“We didn’t have enough phone lines; we didn’t have enough computers, you know our IT department kicked into gear,” says Onstot.

It wasn’t always what to do, but sometimes what not to do: like a circus volunteering elephants for the clean up.

Onstot says, “So my news release said you know circus animals are not condoned to do debris removal, even though they’re offered and we appreciate everybody’s help. Just was not a good idea.”

Finding shelter for homeless survivors was crucial, both in the short term and more permanent sites.

City workers coordinated with FEMA to install 586 temporary housing units just weeks after the storm.

“It was a it was an area where there was a bunch of motorhomes set in place and people could stay there,” says Shaw.

New construction also went under the microscope, with the city looking was strategies reinforce future homes and businesses.

That included requiring hurricane clips to keep the roof on a structure in high winds.

Councilman Shaw says, “There was importance in making sure we had things like those clips.”

There were also much bigger decisions to make, with $158 million in federal disaster grants leading to a new library, Joplin Senior Center, 20th Street overpass, and significant infrastructure upgrades.

“And our pipes are all worn out. A lot of the lot of our streets and things we’re wearing one so we end up with a third of our city being rebuilt, you know, and with help from money that we wouldn’t have had ourselves, you know,” says Shaw.

Ten years later, Shaw still mourns the 161 lives lost to the storm, but sees a bright future ahead for Joplin.

He says, “We have a great city, and you know I made a statement several times lately that I believe Joplin’s greatest days are ahead of us.”

The story of hope and the cross that stood after the Joplin tornado

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JOPLIN, Mo. (KODE) — The 2011 Joplin tornado flattened houses, tore through businesses and tossed around countless cars and trees.

Then, there were the churches including more than two dozen in the path of the storm. That includes St. Mary’s Catholic Church, school, and the cross that still stands today.

“We heard through the grapevine the school and the church had really taken a hit but when we walked up there and saw the total devastation,” recalls Margie Black, St. Mary’s Catholic Church Parishioner.

That happened on top of tornado damage to Black’s own home. She says, “It was very overwhelming.”

She was one of many members of St. Mary’s who lost their church home.

Patty Wheeler, St. Mary’s Parish Council, says, “It was still so overwhelming to see the destruction.”
Decades of Sunday Masses, prayer vigils, and choir practice reduced to piles of debris.

Wheeler says it was a tough thing to see while remembering her daughter’s wedding and dropping off grandkids for school.

“Just the things that we did as a parish family. At that moment walking through and just seeing that debris, kind of put a thought in your head is will it ever come back together again. Is this truly the end?” says Wheeler.

It was a beginning.

Cleaning up the wreckage of the church and school, something they didn’t have to do on their own.

“I think the greatest blessing that came out of the tornado was the number of people from all around the world, that came to help,” Wheeler says.

The site at 25th and Moffet was one in a long list of churches damaged or destroyed by the storm.

“And, in that time, I really thought we would rebuild there,” says Wheeler.

But many changes were in store; The church address would move to 32nd and Central City Road.

Construction of a new campus wouldn’t wrap up for more than three years.

Wheeler says, “As we saw other churches beginning to open up it’s like, well, ‘Why not us?’ you know? But I’m glad we took the time to do the research and build this beautiful, beautiful church that we have now.”

Wheeler points out that what’s even more important is still intact ten years later.

She says, “But what makes that building is the people that are inside of it. And those, the majority of those people stayed together we came back together, and we’re still together.”

She still has a piece of the church wood she saved.

“I mean it’s like saving something of your mom or your dad’s,” says Wheeler.

Meanwhile, for Black, it’s a statue of Mary that rode out the storm.

“It was a moment of hope – something that gave me some grace in spite of this brokenness to find this statue completely intact; it’s very special to us,” she says.

The St. Mary’s cross is still at the old church site, left in place in the hopes it would be part of the healing process.

It’s still a focus for church members, who are working on plan to further develop the site.

One man's faith helped heal the Joplin community after devastating storm

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JOPLIN, Mo. (KSNF) — St. Paul’s United Methodist Church was one of close to 30 churches damaged or destroyed ten years ago in the Joplin tornado.

Two of its member died and 99 families lost their homes.

Its lead pastor for the past 26-years is Aaron Brown, whose faith and leadership helped heal a community.

This survived, and it was turned to this page. And the passage of scripture is for everything there’s a season, a time for every matter under heaven.

Pastor Aaron Brown.

The bible at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church (SPUMC) hasn’t been touched much over the past 10-years.

Nor has another relic that also survived the storm: one particular cross.

“How many times do I think about the tornado? Probably every day,” said Aaron Brown, SPUMC Lead Pastor

Pastor Brown was one of the key figures in the healing and recovery process.

Along with his work from the pulpit, he was also part of Rebuild Joplin and spent countless hours counseling hundreds and hundreds of survivors.

“I think those are the moments when you see can you practice what you preach? Having been here, at that point, for 16 years as a pastor, realizing okay, I built a lot of trust over 16 years, now’s the time I have to utilize that trust to rally people in a direction of healing and hope and rebuilding, not only our church, but our community,” said Brown.

His rally work went into effect immediately after the tornado and it involved a hammer, that night, in the middle of the street.

“And so I found this hammer, and I’m like, I’m taking it, ’cause I know that I’m going to need to dig somebody out and like the only thing I got is this hammer, so I carried it around with me all night just ready to use it whenever it was needed. I call it my yellow handled faith hammer,” said Brown. “You know, when it comes to my faith, what I realized, I don’t know if it was weeks or months later, that the whole tornado experience, the losses that we had, it made me understand God less, but trust God more. I saw how faith mobilized the entire country to show up here and say what can we do to help and people loving us without even knowing us. So I saw faith in action in ways that I never thought I would see or have to see in my life.”

Brown attributes his strength in the process, in part, to one basic trait: responsibility.

“Everything we have is a gift to be used in servanthood, so having been here in leadership for so long I knew that was a gift that I had to be a good steward of, and if one way I could be a good steward of that was to just be visible and speak and rally people local and rally people nationally, if I could do that, that’s what I was supposed to do, so I tried to do that as much as I could,” said Brown.

That included an 800+ mile bike ride from Joplin to New Orleans in 2013, which was part of “JoMo Adventures.”

That event raised more than $155,000 to rebuild homes and lives of natural disasters.

That was 2-years after our natural disaster when, even then, Brown had and saw hope.

He recalls, “I think the moment that I thought that it was going to be okay, was the moment I saw people streaming in from all over, and I knew we weren’t alone. I thought, ‘It’s gonna be okay.'”

Where are Joplin's 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition' recipients now?

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JOPLIN, Mo. — Among an abundance of loss, around 7,500 residential structures were damaged in the pathway of the Joplin tornado on May 22, 2011. But seven families who lost their homes got a chance at a new start when ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” came to town that October.

In only seven days, seven 1,300 to 2,000 square feet houses were built. Nearly 14,000 volunteers built the homes and provided other services during construction. The houses, located in the 2300 and 2400 blocks of South Connor Avenue in Joplin, were built to suit the needs of each family.

But where are these families now? Do they still own their “Extreme Makeover” homes?

Beach House

Recipients Tom and Emily Walters originally owned the “beach house” on South Connor Ave. Tom says receiving the home was “such a blessing.”

Before moving into their “Extreme Makeover” home, the Walters family had to move three times after losing their home to the tornado. The family lived with Emily’s mom for a month, in a rental house for the next month until the owner sold the property, and then in a friend’s house that was in the midst of a remodel.

“When we got the call from Extreme Home Makeover, I thought it was a joke. I couldn’t believe that someone would think of nominating our family, but I was so thankful they did,” said Tom Walters.

Two years after moving in, the Walters welcomed twins into the world and sold their “Extreme Makeover” home because they were in need of more space. Still living locally, the Walters try to give back in any way they can.

“My family and I try to continually give back to the community as much as possible to repay for the gift we were given… I can’t say thank you enough for all the people that helped build a house for my family and give us a new start,” he said.

Emily provides for the community as a nurse at Freeman Health System. Tom is an ISS teacher at North Middle School and is graduating with his master’s degree this month. This summer, he is set to run a girls only skateboarding camp.

Modern Home

Recipient Crystal Cogdill, who owned the “modern home,” has since sold her “Extreme Makeover” house as well. She says that selling the home provided her with a sense of closure after losing one of her sons in the tornado.

“Dealing with the loss of my son and surviving the tornado, you go through a process of grief. The home was a place of healing and a foundation to get back to a new normal. At some point, I felt that I was no longer healing, I almost felt stuck in that moment,” said Cogdill.

“I had another son and I knew that we would outgrow the home at some point as well. Selling the home was like giving me closure on that part of my life,” she continued.

Cogdill says that selling the home had nothing to do with the house itself.

“It was a beautiful home and a huge blessing to me and my son David,” she said.

She also mentions that “Extreme Makeover” did a great job of making the home affordable.

Feng Shui House

One of the last two “Extreme Makeover” homes still owned by the original recipients is the “Feng Shui” house owned by Thang and Tiffany Nguyen.

Thang Nguyen, a pilot in the Vietnam War, immigrated to the U.S. in 1995. He settled in Joplin and worked at General Mills until retirement.

“I love Joplin. I love the small city, quiet town,” said Thang Nguyen.

Before the tornado, the Nguyens lived on Pennsylvania Avenue in Joplin. After disaster struck, their former neighborhood was unrecognizable.

Thang, a master of Feng Shui, is in tune with the energy around him and his “Extreme Makeover” home reflects that. With a straight line from the front door to the back door, the flow is just right. Thang even helped decide where the appliances were positioned.

“I get lucky from “Extreme Makeover” to choose me to give me this house. I love [the house] too much,” he said.

According to Nguyen and neighbors, the other “Extreme Makeover” home still owned by the original recipient is the “Princess House” owned by the Whitely family. The last three homes, originally owned by Scott and Natalie Ely, Kyle and Jill Howard, and Justin and Kari Nevins, are now under new ownership.

TORNADO WARNING for BARRY County until 5:45pm

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(KSNF/KODE) — A TORNADO WARNING has been issued for BARRY County, Missouri until 5:45pm.

1.75″ hail is also possible.

SEEK SHELTER NOW!

A storm capable of producing a tornado is near Seligman moving northeast towards:

  • southern edge of Cassville
  • Eagle Rock
  • Roaring River State Park

SEEK SHELTER NOW!

Follow updates on our KSN/KODE Interactive Radar.

Plans being made for 10th anniversary of Joplin tornado

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JOPLIN, Mo. — The 10th anniversary of the May 22nd, 2011 tornado is just a couple of months away.

And some plans are already in the works.

The committee in charge of making those plans met earlier this week to come up with a rough draft of an itinerary. An event on Saturday, May 22nd will be held at Cunningham Park. A time will be announced at a later date. Convention and Visitor’s Bureau Director Patrick Tuttle says former Missouri Governor Jay Nixon will be invited as one of the guest speakers – because of the role he played in the recovery process. And recovery is the key word.

Patrick Tuttle, Joplin Convention & Visitors Bureau Director, said, “The focus this year is really going to be on the recovery, not so much the details of what happened, we all know the story about what happened, it’s about the recovery, the ten years since then, so we’re going to focus in on that.”

Tuttle says the committee will share its plans at Monday’s night’s city council meeting.