Joplin tornado to prompt research
JOPLIN, Mo. — A team of meteorologists with the National Weather Service will be traveling to Joplin on Monday to assess how the threat of the May 22 tornado was communicated to residents and how they responded.
“They also will be looking for the human side of this tragedy and what people did to take cover,” said Bill Davis, chief meteorologist with the weather service station at Springfield.
“They are keying in on the people who were affected by it. They want to know what they did and how they got the warning. That’s what they are focusing on.”
The objective is to learn how to save lives in the event another EF-5 tornado takes aim at a densely populated urban area.
INTENSE, DEVASTATING’
In addition to announcing the arrival of the survey team on Monday, Davis on Thursday released the first official report on the tornado. It is preliminary and subject to change, but it paints a horrific picture of how “the six-mile track within the city of Joplin was by far the most intense and devastating” of the tornado’s 13.8-mile life.
Davis said “the Joplin tornado,” as it will be forever known, will be studied for years into the future.
“That’s why the work of this three-member survey team is so important,” he said. “It will be tied into the work that is ongoing at Tuscaloosa in Alabama.”
The team, which will stay in Joplin until Friday, will look at the overall event and the societal impact of the tornado.
“What happened to the people?” Davis said “Where did they go? How did they get a warning? Where did they get the warning from? They will concentrate on that type of thing.”
It could be something as simple as a survivor’s decision to ride out the storm in a bathtub.
“It’s amazing how many people did just that,” said Davis. “But I would be afraid to recommend that because it depends on the type of bathtub in your home. There were a lot of cast-iron tubs in those old homes, but in the newer houses they were made of fiberglass.”
EF-5
The EF-5 tornado that struck Joplin is the first in Southwest Missouri since modern records have been maintained for such events. Several wind and structural engineers helped the weather service arrive at its finding that an EF-5 had ripped across Joplin.
One clear indicator, Davis said, “was the shear destruction of well-built homes and businesses that were swept from their foundations.” Buses and trucks were tossed more than 200 yards to a few blocks away. Some were crushed beyond recognition.
“Steel-support roof trusses were rolled like paper,” the report states. Trees were totally debarked and denuded. In one parking lot west of the Home Depot, asphalt was torn from its base.”
There also were some interesting features. The four legs of an undamaged chair were embedded in an exterior wall. A rubber hose impaled a tree.
As of May 31, the weather service estimates that within the city of Joplin, 6,954 houses were destroyed, 359 had major damage and 516 had minor damage.
The tornado first touched down as an EF-0 at Wildwood Ranch west of Joplin. At that point, it had wind speeds of 65 to 85 mph. Multiple vortexes were rotating around the parent circulation. As it moved east along West 32nd Street, its power grew to an EF-1 with sustained winds of 86 to 110 mph. Its width grew to a quarter of a mile.
From Iron Gates Road east to Schifferdecker Avenue, the tornado ripped the roofs off well-built homes. Some homes were destroyed. Some of the damage was rated as EF-2 to the low end of EF-3. Winds speeds were from 111 to 136 mph.
200 MPH
As the tornado crossed Schifferdecker Avenue south of Sunset Drive, it widened and increased in intensity. The forward speed of the tornado through most of Joplin was less than 10 mph. It was at that point that the tornado reached wind speeds at the low end of EF-5 — about 200 mph. Vehicles were tossed from parking lots. Concrete walls were toppled.
By the time it moved to 26th Street and McClelland Boulevard, the tornado was causing damage at the low end of EF-5. Concrete parking stops, weighing 200 to 300 pounds and rebarred into the asphalt, were lifted and tossed several yards.
The tornado would cause EF-3 to EF-5 damage from there to an area just east of Range Line Road.
The report notes that “just about every window was blown out on three sides” of St. John’s Regional Medical Center. Once the wind was inside St. John’s, there was severe damage to walls and ceilings on every floor.
The report states: “Some reported a portion of the hospital was moved 4 inches off of the foundation. This has not been confirmed as yet. However, engineers have determined the entire structure will need to be taken down and replaced with a new building.”
The report states: “East of McClelland and along 26th, the tornado was now at full strength and over three-quarters of a mile wide. Hundreds of homes were totally destroyed.”
Along most of the primary damage track, it was common to find boards, limbs and even small twigs embedded into wood siding and stucco walls. At Joplin High School, cardboard was embedded in stucco walls. The wood framing of homes disintegrated into “thousands of deadly projectiles.”
CENTER OF STORM
The most intense track was north and east of 26th Street and Moffet Avenue to an area near Franklin Technology Center at 20th Street and Iowa Avenue.
The report states: “Based on how the steel fence posts around the high school’s ball field were bent and positioned, the center of the tornado may have crossed this area.”
The main force of the tornado “continued total destruction three-quarters of a mile wide centered between 26th and 20th streets. A bank was totally destroyed. The only thing left in place was the concrete and steel vault.”
The tornado continued eastward to 20th Street and Range Line Road, were it destroyed several well-constructed commercial and retail buildings. Among them were Academy Sports & Outdoors, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, the Pepsi distribution building and the Cummins building. Two large cell towers were toppled.
From Range Line Road to Duquesne Road, the tornado was just over a half-mile wide, producing EF-4 to EF-3 damage. From Duquesne to Interstate 44 and Highway 249, the tornado began turning right, producing EF-2 damage. Cars and trucks were blown off the interstate. The tornado lifted three miles northeast of Diamond.
Davis concludes his report with this: “The tragic 1974 tornado outbreak launched the research for new technology to better provide the public with more lead times on tornadoes. For the most part, we are achieving that goal. This event, and the recent late April events in the Southeast, will certainly launch another era of research — especially in the science of how people respond to warnings.”
Though at least 138 people were killed and more than 1,150 people were injured, Davis said, it could have been much worse.
If the tornado track had been farther north, it would have gone through a more densely populated part of the city. If it had happened on a weekday, more people would have been in the businesses and schools that were destroyed, and more people would have been traveling home from work and school. If the graduation ceremony for Joplin High School had been held at the high school, it is likely more people would have died.
“Every day since this event, I have thought about the sheer level of destruction and wondered why more people were not killed,” Davis said. “This was an act of nature. The fact that so many more people were not killed was an act of God.”