Today is our chance to wind down after the main storm spotting event and take in the powerful history of Joplin Missouri. May 22, 2011, at 5:41pm, Joplin Missouri was devastated by the strongest class of a tornado, and EF5 rated tornado. In total 160 people lost their lives that day, making the jopline 2011 tornado one of the most destructive and deadliest tornadoes in history.
The 200+ MPH winds of this tornado completely destroyed all homes and buildings in its direct path, lifting a hospital off its foundation, destroying a middle school, and leaving a scar across the town that is still visible to this day. In its damage path, there are very few trees taller than 6 feet, all trees were completely uprooted in the disaster. Additionally there is a clear fissure between the old construction of the original Joplin homes and the newer ones which replaced the destroyed ones. There are also several memorials in the damage path which we payed respect to.
It's a chilling reminder that these storms are capable of catastrophic damage.