Jay Nixon declared a state of emergency, and President Barack Obama said the Federal Emergency Management Agency was working with state and local agencies. Travel through and around Joplin was difficult, with Interstate 44 shut down and streets clogged with emergency vehicles and the wreckage of buildings.Įmergency management officials rushed heavy equipment to Joplin to help lift debris and clear the way for search and recovery operations. Winds from the storm carried debris up to 60 miles away, with medical records, X-rays, insulation and other items falling to the ground in Greene County, said Larry Woods, assistant director of the Springfield-Greene County Office of Emergency Management. During one stretch after midnight Monday, emergency vehicles were scrambling nearly every two minutes. Outside, ambulances and fire trucks waited for calls. At Memorial Hall, a downtown entertainment venue, nurses and other emergency workers from across the region were treating critically injured patients.Īt another makeshift unit at a Lowe's home improvement store, wooden planks served as beds. Triage centers and shelters setup around the city quickly filled to capacity. "You don't typically see metal structures and metal frames torn apart, and that's what you see here." "I've been to about 75 disasters, and I've never seen anything quite like this before," Spencer said. Michael Spencer, a national Red Cross spokesman who also assisted in the aftermath of a tornado that devastated nearby Pierce City in 2003, was also stunned. "I had seen it on television, but until you're standing right here and see the devastation, you can't believe it." "That's a terrible way to say it, but you don't recognize what's across the street. "It's like what you see someplace else, honestly," Lewis said. By early Monday, she still had no details on any deaths or injuries suffered at the hospital in the tornado strike, although she had seen the damaged building. John's, was at home when the tornado sirens began going off. Police officers could be seen combing the surrounding area for bodies. the sheer size and the speed of this tornado was incredible," Jeff Piotrowksi said.Įarly Monday morning, floodlights from a temporary triage facility lit what remained of the hospital that once held as many 367 patients. "The thing that was most amazing about this tornado was the sheer size of the tornado and how fast it was moved through the city. John's patients were evacuated to other hospitals in the region, said Cora Scott, a spokeswoman for the medical center's sister hospital in Springfield.Ī storm chaser who filmed the twister as it ripped through the city told ABC's "Good Morning America" that it was moving faster than his car, which he was driving at 45-50 mph. It was 30 years old and two layers of brick. "The building that my office was in was not flimsy. Probably for two to three blocks, it's just leveled," he said. Rubble littered a flattened lot where a pharmacy, gas station and some doctor's offices once stood. Matt Sheffer dodged downed power lines, trees and closed streets to make it to his dental office across from the hospital. Nearby, a pile of cars lay crumpled into a single mass of twisted metal.
#JOPLIN TORNADO WALMART DEATHS WINDOWS#
In the parking lot, a helicopter lay crushed on its side, its rotors torn apart and windows smashed. The staff had just a few moments' notice to hustle patients into hallways before the storm struck the nine-story building, blowing out hundreds of windows and leaving the facility useless. Jasper County emergency management director Keith Stammer said an estimated 2,000 buildings were damaged.Īmong the worst-hit locations in Joplin was St. Sunday's storm in Joplin hit a hospital packed with patients and a commercial area including a Home Depot construction store, numerous smaller businesses and restaurants and a grocery store. But the devastation in Missouri was the worst of the day, eerily reminiscent the tornadoes that killed more than 300 people across the South last month. At least one person was killed in Minneapolis. The Joplin twister was one of 68 reported tornadoes across seven Midwest states over the weekend, from Oklahoma to Wisconsin, according to the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center. "I couldn't even make out the side of the building.
That's really what it looked like," said Kerry Sachetta, the principal of a flattened Joplin High School. "You see pictures of World War II, the devastation and all that with the bombing.
Residents said the damage was breathtaking in scope. "It's going to be a stark view as people see dawn rise in Joplin, Missouri." "It's a very, very precarious situation," Nixon told CNN. Jay Nixon said fires from gas leaks still burned across the city. You will begin to receive our Daily News updates. Add your contacts.Įarly Monday, Gov.
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