JoMo

Pretty good article from a Springfield paper, but one mistake in this article was the mention of Walgreens not being rebuilt. Actually both the Walgreens built back in record time. I suspect the author of this article was talking about a gas station that was located on the corner of 26th and Maiden Lane that has not rebuilt back. http://www.news-leader.com/story/news/local/ozarks/2016/05/21/five-years-after-devastating-may-2011-joplin-tornado-heres-what-city-looks-like/83589110/ AP's article on the Joplin tornado: Survivors of tornado that leveled Missouri city look back http://bigstory.ap.org/article/7e1d990a8fa74a9994d16fb5b5774b86/survivors-tornado-leveled-missouri-city-look-back National Geographic's "Witness: Joplin Tornado" I'll probably post one last summary of the entire 5 years later today.

Desiree was also someone I posted stories about. She was trapped inside Dillons supermarket and had a crush injury, she was also pregnant at the time and medical professionals thought she had lost the baby. Her words, 5 years later........ Five years ago I was at the Joplin Dillons to get groceries for a date night with Matthew. I was in the first trimester of my pregnancy with Leo and tired to boot. Little did I know my life was going to change forever. I was in the ground zero path of what is now known as one of the deadliest tornadoes in the United States. I happened to also be the only person (and pregnant) in the front produce cooler that ended up trapped and suffered a crush injury (the medical diagnosis I learned is: rhabdomyolysis). There are days where I can recall what happened at the Joplin Dillons so vividly and I have days... lots of days...where I want to forget this experience ever happened to my family. It has been encouraging to see all of the stories on media outlets of other survivors. People who should have died, and miraculously didn't. I like to think my son Leo is one of those survivors, although, I'm sure he'll never understand the magnitude of him being a "tornado survivor" means. With steel and concrete crushing my body and leaving me breathless I should have suffered a miscarriage or worse. Even medical professionals thought I lost him. I felt the same relief from the literal tons of weight on me when I was pulled out of the rubble by the Carthage Fire Department as when I found out Leo was still "viable." Leo is still as strong, stubborn, and free-spirited as he was when I was pregnant with him. Sometimes I wonder if anyone who recalls my story wonders how myself or my family is doing. There are so many lives affected by May 22, 2011 it can be easy to lose track. After debating about it... I decided to take a moment to reflect and provide an update. It's been a roller coaster. PTSD comes in all forms. It took me years to finally conquer a lot of my anxieties. It took me years to stop being mad at how the tornado changed me. I don't want to be remembered as the pregnant woman underneath a building. I want to be remembered as the woman who fought hard enough to change circumstances. Because sometimes, with enough determination (or being entirely stubborn in my case. Gee. I wonder where Leo gets it.) you can change circumstances. I shouldn't be walking and here I am. Leo is almost 4 and a half. He turns 5 in December. He has a little sister now named Emma who is 2. They are best friends. It melts my heart watch them interact with each other. I also have a cat named Cheeto and a bunny named Cinnabun. I have found my calling in the social entertainment industry. I am now an Associate Product Manager and Cash Shop Manager for an online community I have personally been a member of for almost 12 years. I'm excited to get to fly out to San Jose regularly to be physically there with my team. Next week I fly out to San Jose for one of those trips. I love being able to provide for my family in more ways now. I want to take this time to thank everyone along the way who helped us recover. Thank you to the groups who donated furniture, clothing, and food when we lost it all. I want to thank the ASPCA for finding my beloved Freya when she was gone for days. I want to thank the media outlets who spoke to me years ago and used my story to bring hope to others. I want to thank the Carthage Fire Department for saving me & Leo. I want to thank the woman who flagged the Carthage Fire Department right after the tornado hit. I want to thank my husband for staying with me the entire ordeal. Most people would have ran and he stayed. I want to thank my friends & family who understand I'm not entirely crazy when I hear loud noises and my ears perk up. After the tornado happened I wasn't sure what life would be like. I didn't know what life was like to be a tornado survivor. I am living proof life can be beautiful after the storm... no matter the storm. If you know someone struggling please share my story with them. You can make the best out of every situation and everything will eventually be okay. I promise.

Here's an update on a couple of kids stories that I remember quite vividly. Mason Lillard (10 at time of tornado) and Lage Grigsby (14 at time of tornado) are cousins. They were at Home Depot in their grandparents truck when the tornado hit. The truck was thrown from the parking lot into part of the store. Mason had been impaled by a metal rod that had pierced the truck, destroyed part of her shoulder blade, pierced part of her lung, separated some ribs and pinned her in the truck. First responders cut the top and bottom of the rod so they could get her out of the truck and sent her to the hospital with the bar still inside her. She's has 12 surgeries over the last 5 years and is basically fine. Plays softball and is a cheerleader at school. http://www.fourstateshomepage.com/news/doctor-and-patient-reunite-five-years-after-the-joplin-tornado Lage's injuries were far more extensive. He had a massive head injury and was oozing brain matter at the scene. First responders didn't think he would survive the ride to the hospital. At the hospital they 'black tagged' him (meaning they thought he was dead or would die) until a nurse saw him and put her hands on him, he opened an eye and let out a massive scream, so they rushed him to get a brain scan. Doctors ended up removing nearly 1/4 of his brain. They sewed two pieces of his skull into his abdomen for safe keeping. His recovery time was longer and he basically had to relearn a lot of things. His right hand is paralyzed so he had to become a lefty, but he can talk, walk, use a cell phone, do chores, and even drive... 5 years later. http://www.kspr.com/content/news/JOPLIN-TORNADO-Lage-Grigsbys-recovery-through-the-years-380208531.html

Gary Bandy, former Chief Meteorologist at KSNF in Joplin will be on TWC Wxgeeks this Sunday: https://www.wunderground.com/blog/DrShepherdWxGeeks/after-the-storm-stories-from-the-joplin-and-pilger-tornadoes Joplin was featured on the TornadoTalk podcast. http://www.tornadotalk.com/ Future football player had his life changed by the tornado/PTSD. http://www.kspr.com/content/news/JOPLIN-TORNADO-Still-recovering-five-years-later-380056951.html EDIT: Helicopter today flying around the tornado disaster area taking footage 5 years later of the area. EDIT 2: Governor's office has released a website that deals with Joplin's recovery over the last 5 years.... http://governor.mo.gov/joplinrising

KC Star started their coverage of Joplin up by republishing the stories they did right after the tornado. They have added some new stuff though: They have written a fair article that talks about Joplin's successes and failures. http://www.kansascity.com/news/special-reports/joplin/article78154942.html This mom is looking for her 'real, living angel' that stood by her side the night of the tornado while she was searching for her daughter: http://www.kansascity.com/news/state/missouri/article78135292.html UPDATE: Found her: http://www.kansascity.com/news/state/missouri/article78348047.html Probably the most interesting section is a set of 'mini stories' from people impacted by the storm, now 5 years later...... The best one is probably Steven Weersing. He's the kid who basically had his entire chest rebuilt by surgeons after he got the flesh eating fungus. Sounds like his story could be made into a Lifetime movie or something.... http://projects.kansascity.com/2016/joplin/vignettes/ Before/After pictures that are from after the tornado and now. The next to last picture on this page is from the neighborhood where I posted many pictures from in this thread. Hard to believe at one point between the destruction and rebuilding, there was nothing there. http://projects.kansascity.com/2016/joplin/before-and-after/

The Joplin Globe has a big story today about Joplin's recovery. http://www.joplinglobe.com/news/local_news/six-miles-of-recovery-the-journey-back/article_5cd49f43-5a76-5316-9aed-b6a6362e41f6.html But one corner of Joplin remains untouched. The bedroom of Will Norton — one of the first victims of the storm — remains as he left it five years ago, right down to the socks sitting underneath the desk. Joplin Globe youtube video of pictures of some of the areas after the tornado and drone footage of what they look like today.

Yep, in the EF-1 part, barely. I think it was everything factored in. The waiting and listening as the roar got louder, waiting for it to destroy the house. The sound of the air being sucked in the garage door, the loud bang of debris against the house. I never figured out what dented in the steel garage door, or what dented the satellite dish and broke the neighbors chain length fence. Part of someone's ceiling, (with a/c vents still attached) was located half in the street and in someone's yard just down the street. Seeing all the destruction that night just 3 blocks away is what really brought home the realization that there was a decent chance I wouldn't be here or I would have been seriously injured if it had been just 3 blocks closer. A quick glance at all the damage in those areas gave enough evidence that the walk-in closet I was in would not have fared well. A better location would have been a hallway where 4 rooms connect and where a water heater is located. Anyway, this is what I wrote around 5 years ago when I returned here about (4 days?)after the tornado:

On a happier note, this story is about Chad Crilley. Chad was 12 years old at the time of the Joplin tornado and lived in San Diego, California. He had a passion for meteorology. He wrote an email to a bunch of meteorologists in the Plains because he wanted to see some severe weather. Doug Heady (local met) responded and told Chad and his mom when they should come out to see some severe weather. They arrived on May 22nd. Chad and his mom were narrowly missed by the tornado, and the next few days featured more severe weather so Chad got to see what it was like working on-air during a severe outbreak, he even did some reports for his hometown station on the Joplin tornado. 5 years later...He's graduating high school now, and will be attending Eastern Illinois University, where he will be pursuing a meteorology degree. http://www.koamtv.com/category/164379/video?clipId=12433075&autostart=false

10 days until it's been 5 years so local news is starting to ramp up the tornado stories. This story I can relate to because I had PTSD symptoms and know of many people who had similar symptoms as well. The story describes the symptoms quite well...... For me, the sound of rolling thunder over the last 3-4 years has been rough as it would take me back to that day and I'd experience the symptoms listed, it was pretty much like a panic attack. Even adding a tornado shelter to the house didn't stop that fear. Even on days when I knew there wasn't a chance of a tornado, my brain would tell me that one would just drop out of the sky unnoticed if I heard rolling thunder. I never really had that fear before the Joplin tornado. Thunder (even distant) will wake me up from sleep now and I'll turn the TV on or check Radarscope to see if it's warned. Luckily those symptoms have really faded and I don't experience that fear as much. I'm not sure what changed, I guess it just took some time. For other people, they still experience PTSD symptoms. Someone I know can't go to an automatic car wash because it reminds them of the sound of being inside the tornado. Someone else I know leaves the area completely on days when there are chances of tornadoes, driving hours and hours away from the area before the storms form. This man, who was trapped under a wall in Home Depot and was injured, still struggles with chronic PTSD. http://www.fox14tv.com/story/31960536/tornado-ptsd

Thank you Beau. 417 magazine has written an article about Joplin's recovery over the last 5 years: http://www.417mag.com/417-Magazine/May-2016/Winds-of-Change/ Also an interesting article from back in January from the AP: http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/joplin-rebounds-strongly-after-tornado/article_cfac876e-4151-5bfd-ad2a-69256129db88.html "Joplin’s population of about 50,000 people dropped by 1.3 percent within a year of the tornado. Many wrongly expected that slide to continue; U.S. Census Bureau figures from May showed the city’s population has risen to 51,316."

It's hard to believe we are coming up on 5 years since the tornado. I still remember it like it was yesterday. It looks like Joplin is planning a Disaster Recovery Summit on Thursday, May 19th and Friday May 20th. Speakers will come from Greensburg, KS, Tuscaloosa, AL, Cedar Rapids, IA, Minot, ND, Moore, OK, Vilonia, AR, Pilger, NE. There's various breakout sessions covering disaster related topics. Full agenda: http://www.joplinproud.com/joplin-disaster-recovery-summit/agenda/ Joplin Memorial Marathon is on the 21st.... A community picnic will be held Sunday the 22nd, along with Joplin High School graduation (creepy that it's on Sunday the 22nd, just like the tornado) and it'll all end with a Memorial Service for those lost in the tornado. http://www.joplinproud.com/

Yep, I hate ice storms. Usually after you experience a really bad one and don't have any power, lose a lot of tree limbs/trees and are stuck inside for days, then ice storms from then on are no fun. Always neat to experience an alien looking ice covered world, the grass crackling under your feet, once, though.

The findings of how the city government did after the Joplin tornado....... The Missouri State Auditor concluded it's citizen petitioned audit of the Joplin City Government and determined that it has a rating of "poor", which is the worst you can get. There were examples of waste and mismanagement and city leaders who blurred the line between private business dealings and government services. A lot of issues happened with the master developer and selection of the master developer, Wallace-Bajjali, who did absolutely nothing for the city. Other issues had to do with the previous mayor (the mayor at the time of the tornado), and his dealings with a real estate developer. He is currently under investigation by the FBI. Whole story on the findings is here: http://www.joplinglobe.com/news/audit-cites-questionable-property-deals-sunshine-law-violations/article_4c480410-45fd-11e5-b738-c77c7ea1d58a.html EDIT: I guess it made National News as well: http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/18/the-associated-press-audit-millions-of-dollars-mismanaged-after-joplin-tornado.html

I see you all are having problems with it being too dry. I've been having the opposite problem here, too wet. My tomatoes have been too wet and are starting to try to sprout roots along the stem outside of the soil due to water stress. Guess I'll pile dirt on them up to where it's trying to sprout new roots and hope for some dry weather.

Signs of a summertime high showing up, eh? Yes please, we need to dry out.

Today is the 4 year anniversary of the tornado. I can't believe it's been 4 years already as it seems like it wasn't too long ago everything was destroyed. St. John's (Mercy) hospital built a memorial garden where their chapel stood at the old hospital site, and the city decided it's going to build a new park on the rest of the land the old hospital was on. This park will be a 'passive park' and have a pond, fountains, trails, but no playground equipment or anything, that's reserved for Cunningham Park across the street. http://www.koamtv.com/story/29048960/joplin-city-council-approves-plans-for-new-park St. John's (Mercy) temporary hospital that was built after the tornado will become a medical school a couple of years from now thanks to the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences. It will be the first new medical school in Missouri in 40 years. The Joplin Blasters (an independent professional baseball team) won their inaugural home opener last night in front of what may have been a nearly sold out stadium. And finally... The Joplin First Response tornado fund has closed after distributing around $1 million in donations. There were 991 donations given from people from all over the world. These donations were given to residents and non-profits. 41 grants were made to 27 non-profit agencies including Rebuild Joplin, Catholic Charities, and Joplin Area Habitat for Humanity. The grants were used to repair/rebuild homes, buy appliances for people who couldn't afford them and for storm shelters. Grants were also given to local churches who helped house and feed volunteers (many of the grants were used for storm shelters), and to child care services and mental health help for children who were traumatized. The first grant that was given was for weather radios for residents. One grant for $25,000 was returned by an agency who said it was no longer needed and some grants weren't fully used. The board decided they'd give the remaining $39,000 or so to the city.

Mercy hospital (old St. Johns) opened it's doors today. They moved all the patients from the temporary hospital over to their new hospital and the move went flawlessly. They started moving the patients around 7 AM or so, and were finished moving all 79 patients by around 11 AM. The hospital also had it's first birth this morning, twins.. a boy and a girl.

Coming up on 4 years before long.... Mercy (St. Johns) Hospital had it's open house yesterday: http://www.joplinglobe.com/news/local_news/mercy-holds-open-house-in-advance-of-new-hospital-opening/article_4fa54330-0dc0-552f-b21d-942a7d43a034.html All the rooms are private, it will have a NICU, the cancer center will have a state of the art linear accelerator, they put the ER and OR right next to each other, and lots of other new state of the art technology. http://www.mercy.net/newsroom/2015-03-05/technology-packed-hospital-opening-in-joplin

So, it's been about 5 months since my last update and things have drastically changed within the last few days. The master developer Wallace Bajjali has had both of it's managers resign and the firm is probably finished. All this without breaking ground on a single project in Joplin. Overall, the firm was paid $1.68 million by the city. A couple of side effects from having a master developer have also shown up. For one, development did not take place in some areas because people were waiting to see where the master developer was going to put projects in order to raise the property values in those areas. Another side effect was that the TIF district created by the master developer and the lack of development has caused the school district to lose money. Wallace Bajjali said they would pay the school district around $13 million, but it appears as if the firm will not exist much longer and the school will be missing out on a large amount of property tax dollars. You can read about all the drama here: http://www.thestate.com/2015/01/26/3950822_contractor-leading-joplin-redevelopment.html?rh=1 In other, better, news... The High School has been finished, and Mercy Hospital is still scheduled to open at the end of March.

They weren't expecting it last year either. Nino climo suggests it will be milder, either way.

And here's an aerial view of the new High School campus.

The new Joplin High School is nearing completion although it won't be finished by the time school starts on Aug 25th. The students will still go there, assuming the school gets all the occupancy papers to do so.

Today is the 3 year anniversary of the tornado. I can't believe it's been 3 years as the events of that day are still fresh on my mind and scars from the tornado are still visible in the empty lots, the deformed trees, and the lack of trees in some areas still. Around 90% of homes have been rebuilt. The private sector has quickly rebuilt (450 businesses out of 500 have come back, and 150 additional businesses have opened), while progress lags behind when it comes to the public sector due to the usual red tape issues. http://www.ky3.com/news/local/joplin-tornado-nearly-3-years-later-90-percent-of-homes-rebuilt/21048998_26106400 A butterfly garden and overlook built by Drury University will be dedicated today at Cunningham Park. http://www.news-leader.com/story/news/local/ozarks/2014/05/21/garden-dedicated-joplin-tornado-anniversary/9376915/ Another story about Mercy (St. John's) hospital that is building back. It's still scheduled to open in March 2015. http://news.yahoo.com/joplins-extreme-efforts-to-tornado-proof-new-hospital-222058695.html And last but not least, a "Thank You" video was created to say Thanks to all the volunteers, EMS, and everyone that made the recovery possible.

Coming up on 3 years since the tornado. This PDF ebook with lots of pics and stories has been made available for free. (usually costs $15) http://www.joplintornadobook.com/

It's been a couple of months since I last updated. There hasn't been much movement on many of the 'big projects' that the master developer has proposed. Still waiting on things to be built by them. Our award winning city manager, Mark Rohr, was fired last month by 5 out of the 9 members of our city council "without cause". He was quickly hired by League City, TX and starts there March 31st. The tornado fund likely gave out the last of the tornado donations which totaled about $995,950 with interest. http://www.joplinglobe.com/topstories/x334202774/Local-tornado-fund-board-cites-appreciation-accomplishments There's a full list of all the recipients and how the money was used is located at: http://www.joplinmo.org/DocumentCenter/View/2820 One of the recipients of funding was Catholic Charities who rebuilt the home of Don Atteberry, who is around 91-92 years old. He was in one of those iconic photos that were taken after the tornado since his home of 50 years was destroyed in the tornado. His new house with his Catholic Charities case manager: