Tonight, it's going to be a little bit different. I will not be sharing a story about demons or goblins or ghost or deer, which seemed to be a reoccurring thing on this show for some reason. Deer, I I don't know animals. But this is actually a little bit different because and I'm curious to see what you all think of this. So yeah, make sure you let me know. I'm going to share a story. And this was actually suggested by a listener. I'll give it to shout out to Steve Carroll for the suggestion on this. It is about a tornado that hit Choppelin, Missouri. It's a very bad tornadic event to happen in Joplin, Missouri. And that's what I'm going to share today. So what I'll do is I'll go through the first part of this and we'll go from there. But yeah, Jopolin is a city in Jasper and Newton Counties in southwestern corner of the US state of Missouri. Lead was discovered in Joplin Creek Valley before the Civil War, but only after the war did significant development take place. So therefore that's how this city becomes a development. By eighteen seventy one, numerous mining camps spring up in the valley, and resident John Seacawks filed a plane for the city in the East Valley. Cox wanted to name this place Joplin City, after the Spring and Creek that's nearby. The bulk of this city is in Jasper County, while southern portion is in Newton County. Joplin is the largest city located within both of those counties, with a population of fifty two thousand people as of the year twenty twenty. It's the thirteenth most populated city in Missouri. City covers an area of thirty six square miles, so it's no by no means a small city where this event happens. The twenty eleven Joplin Tornado was a large, devastating, multi vortex tornado that struck Joplin, Missouri, United States, on the evening of Sunday, May two, two thousand and eleven. It was the first F five tornado to occur in Missouri since May twentieth night, eighteen fifty seven, when an F five destroyed several suburbs of Kansas City. It was the third tornado actually strike Joplin since nineteen seventy one. On the evening of May twenty first, twenty eleven, at excuse me, eight pm Central Time, the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center issued a slight risk of severe weather for the following day for much of the upper Plains in the Midwest. By eight am the following day, on the twenty second, forecasters at the Storm Prediction Center realized that a more intense weather outbreak was likely to occur and upgraded the large area that had previously been to a moderate risk. Now fast forward three and a half hours to eleven thirty am Central Time. A public severe weather outlook was issued at this time, and the outlook stated that severe weather was expected that afternoon, with tornadoes, large hail, strong wind all named as threats. At one thirty PM, four hours prior to the tornado, the Storm Prediction Center issued a tornado watch for southwestern Missouri to remain in effect until nine PM that evening. The watch predicted the following explosive thunderstorm development with a strong tornado or two highly possible thunderstorms began developing between two and three PM over southeast Kansas. They quickly became severe, and as the thunderstorm development continued moving east, forecasters became more concerned about tornadic development. Thunderstorm west of Joplin that eventually produced the IFI tornado was first issued at five seventeen PM Central Time, seventeen minutes before it touched down and nineteen minutes before it entered the city of Joplin. The tornado first touched down in Newton County, Missouri, just east of the Missouri Kansas state line, approximately one half mile southwest of the intersection of South Central City Road thirty second Street. At five thirty four. Eyewitnesses and storm chasers reported multi vortex rotating around the parent circulation. Here's the tornado down several large trees at an EF zero intensity. Civil defense sirens sounded in Joplin twenty minutes before the tornado struck in response to the tornado warning at five point seventeen. The following counties were issued for that tornado warning. It was Newton and Jasper Counties, which we talked about earlier, is where Joplin is and southwest portions of the counties that surrounded. But many Joplin residents did not fill the need to react even though there were sirens. The tornado and it will also cut myself off there there is a lot of tornado activity in southwest Missouri. It's Tornado Alley area, so I think they probably do become a little bit numb to this. Okay. The tornado had just developed and moved east northeast and strengthened to an e F one intensity as it continued through rural areas towards Joplin, snapping trees and power bowls and damaging outbuildings widening. The tornado then tracked into a more densely populated southwest corner of the city, near twent Hills Country Club. It heavily damaged several homes at a subdivision in this area up at this point up to an EF three strength. The tornado continued to cause EF three damage as it moved through another subdivision just east of Iron Gates Road. Numerous homes were destroyed and multiple vehicles tossed around, some of which were thrown onto or rolled into homes. The tornado reached E four intensity just before crossing south Scheffendecker Avenue at five thirty six pm. The tornado produced its first area of EF four damage only four minutes after touching down, as several small but well built commercial buildings were flattened. Consistent EF four to e F five damage was noted as it continued through southern Joplin. Numerous home businesses and medical buildings were flattened in this area, with concrete walls collapsed and crushed into the foundations. A large steal reinforced step and floor structure leading into a completely destroyed metal building was deflected upwards several inches and cracked steel trustles from some of the buildings were rolled up like paper. Multiple vehicles were thrown and mangled or wrapped around trees nearby. Several three hundred pound concrete parking stops anchored with reebar were torn from the parking lot in this area and thrown up to one hundred yards away, and Iowa State University wind engineer calculated the force needed to remove those parking stops from the lot. The wind requirements to do that would be exceeding two hundred and twenty miles an hour. Damage became remarkably widespread and catastrophic at and around the nearby Saint John's Region Medical Center, which lost nearly every window on three sides, interior walls, ceilings, and part of its roof. Its flight rescue helicopter was also blown away and destroyed. This caused five casualties and nine story buildings were damaged so bad and later on it would be these buildings were deemed structurally compromised and then had to be torn down. According to the National Weather Service, such extreme structural damage such as large and well built structures, likely indicated winds that exceeded two hundred and thirty miles an hour. Vehicles in the hospital parking lot were thrown into the air and mangled beyond recognition, including a semi truck that was tossed one hundred and twenty five yards and wrapped completely around a debark tree. Small debris from hospital, including X rays, medical reports, and dental records, were found and the surrounding counties around that area many whiles to the east. Wind rowing of debris was noted in this area, and more concrete parking stops were removed from the parking lot by the tornado. Virtually every house near mcleland Boulevard and twenty sixth Street was flattened, some were completely swept away, and trees sustained severe Debarking this point in time, I'm going to share the first video that kind of goes along with the timelines of this. Let me see you coming across the Kansas border and just about to make it to the Joplan area. We also have some showers and storms across northern Arkansas. Please do take heap, get in your tornado shelters right now. We can't stress this enough. Okay, where you hear that? Wait for get friends going to It's gonna do it yet further not here. I'm thick. But stop stop stop, it's coming towards us. Oh wait, okay on, Oh, I say, I say, I see, I say. We're getting closer. We're gonna get closer. We're gonna get closer. Stop stop, stop, it's right field, get closer. You're going to get closer. I think it's right there. I know, I know it's right there. I know. But we can get closer. Oh my gosh, we'll do on your window, We'll down your window. Oh what is it? Do it? Okay? Hold on, I got Oh it's getting big, big, big big. That is huge, dude, that's going because I'm walking a strong, large tornado the south side of wine and A. Chief Randalls has advised that we would be waiting before we send anyone out for any of their vehicles out for search and rescue, drinking one queen dream. I'm honoring fine, now you can hand that line. Yeah, just kind of goes slow and don't keep high out because we're not sure where don't or where that is over Marning Gary worn over barn dr servos, Okay, you gotta way out. I don't know where. I don't know where we are across the road he said, Oh gosh, okay, got it there. Oh my gosh, Oh my gosh. There it is there, it is. This is doing mine in the heart oft job where we're going Choppol in twenty six fifteen, we have a house that has been struck at top of the house has come down on the people. Oh god, you're house. None none, dolphin's gone gone right, it's gone all right, I guess damn. Now, so the storm has just moved into the city at this point in the story. Your thoughts so far as crazy. This footage courtesy the Weather Channel and National Weather Service. Actually you got to see in real time how fast this thing went from basically like a rope string tornado to a massive tornado that later we'll get into the size somewhere. But did you see how fast that happened. Yeah, that was nuts. I knew where it was going because I remember when this happened and everything. That was a crazy time. But yeah, when I saw that just now, I was like, Man, you can't really trust things not to get worse. If there's a bad you know, anything like that, you need to get away as fast as possible. It was talking about the police were not planning on sending any rescue forces out till this is over, right, which is very smart, but they already had as you saw one of the officers dash cam, people that were stuck out in the storm. That was crazy. This is another thing we always talk about these like talk about like ghost stories or or rather strange things. This is truly something that's very terrifying. We talk about EF four EF five storms. They produced the equivalent damage of an atomic bomb. Right, So what has just started and what we've just got into here is the making of something. There's not many more dangerous things that can happen in the world than what's happening. It's like in times level of damage just crazy. Yes, literally, we're seeing just right now, as it starts and builds strength, we're seeing things already getting flattened and it's just now starting to enter the city of Joplin, Missouri. This was a time period where there was a lot of storms, outbreaks, and tornadoes. This year twenty eleven, I'm trying to remember, and it may been the following year, but nevertheless, here in Indiana where I live, there was a one in Henryville, a town in southern Indiana, and that's actually when I was living in southern Indiana. There was pretty similar damage. Kind of takes me back in the city I was actually in that tornado wasn't there, but there was a tornado that day. Yeah, Like it kind of takes me back to where a tornado was just a few miles from me, right, I mean, yeah, I remember that. It was like a couple of stretch of a few years there, whether it just seemed like there were way too many tornadoes going and I remember, like, you know, thinking, man, what the heck is going on here? Absolutely terrifying. You have no control over this. There's nothing you could do besides try to get somewhere safe. I will say, though, I will say just talking about I don't know at the top of my head what the average lead time is for getting a warning and the sirens and all that. But it seems like they had a pretty decent lead time here. They at least knew that, Yeah, there was a chance of it early on, but typically I don't think storms even get fifteen minutes. People get fifteen minute notice for a tornado. I mean that, I think that's pretty good. But still, though, you just start thinking about something so bad it's gonna happen. How much is fifteen minutes really? I mean you can't even get your car packed up in fifteen minutes. Yeah, not with everything that you want to take with you. Yeah, especially a family, you know whatever, You definitely can't. Yeah, like I said, slightly different story from what you actually do, but terrifying. Man, that to me, this is this is this is scary. I don't know anything much more scary than this. I think I'll take your haunted deer that you talked about last couple of weeks. I got some some more similar stuff to that tonight. Well, yeah, we'll jump back into that of course here again in a minute. But yeah, I think we did a pretty good job set in the stage for the beginning of that very much. So, yeah, that was crazy. Jeff Townsend Media sees you good night, And the question is do I stay here? Will you be back? Are you gonna come back? Will you be back? Are you coming back?
