One of our goals for this trip was making it to a town which had been impacted by a severe tornado. We were fortunate that Joplin, MO happened to be directly on the way home.
Famously, Joplin was struck by an EF5 tornado in May of 2011. EF5 is the highest damage classification issued for tornadoes. The tornado directly killed 158 people, and most sources attribute another 8-9 deaths to it indirectly. This places it high in the historical death counts for tornadoes in the US, and it shook Joplin to the core.
We found that as we went around the town, still today you can clearly see where the tornado passed through town, given where old construction changes into new construction, and where mature trees change to open lots or young trees. We also visited several memorials, and learned about the severe impact the storm had, but also the magnificent humanitarian response it provoked. I've included photos from the memorials below.
