![]() ![]() When picking up wood that previously held their home together, I saw the family - a mother, father, and two kids - just hold one another and thank God that they made it through alive. I began to help a family with several others clean up their property while trying to search for anything salvageable in the debris. Entire neighborhoods had been leveled, the hospital was destroyed, and so many lives were lost.īut the Joplin community remained resilient. I remember pulling over on the side of the road and just looked around at the rubble that once was the city of Joplin. will celebrate survival and assess the futureĪ few days after the tornado, I drove up to Joplin and witnessed the carnage firsthand. READ: Five years after devastating tornado, Joplin Mo. When I didn’t immediately hear back, I began to fear for the worst.Īfter about 24 hours, I was able to confirm that all of my friends survived the storm, but not everyone was so lucky. I then took to Facebook trying to make sure that my friends and their families were okay. ![]() SLIDESHOW: Haunting photos capture the post-tornado ruins of Joplin in 2011Īfter hearing the high school was destroyed in the aftermath, my heart sank and blood turned to ice. Growing up in southwest Missouri, I had numerous friends celebrating their graduation from Joplin High School that same evening. The town had been obliterated and 161 lives were taken in a matter of minutes. The frantic voice of the reporter and graphic images of the devastation, destruction and despair paralyzed me. STORY: Remembering the tornado that laid waste to Joplin, Mo. With eyes glued to a TV screen, my mother and I watched news coverage of an EF-5 tornado barreling through Joplin. I was just finishing up my high school graduation party in Springfield, Missouri, when I saw something horrific unfold on live television. May 22, 2011, is a date that’s hard to forget. ![]()
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