Corrections: Correction: Footage at 22:47 is NOT from Dillon's. I thought that was from the Dillon's since the description of the circumstances from the reporting (Both from CBS and Fox News) Implies that it could have been Dillon's but it was actually not. I apologize for that. Correction: At 40:49 I said what caused Mike Bettes to break down on Live TV was due to the fatigue brought by the 2011 Super Outbreak. My original thinking for why that was the case was that he began to break down right before mentioning Tuscaloosa. Based on word association, I believed it was a combination of meteorological fatigue and the scene itself. However, it's has come to my attention over the past few months that the actual reason is much darker. According to the 20 Minutes in May presentation (Which I did watch for this video) and other sources, the reason Bettes broke down was because he saw the bodies of the deceased in the rubble nearby. This makes a whole lot more sense, but I do think there is still a case to make that fatigue from the 2011 super outbreak played a role. Not as big as I made it out to be and I apologize for getting the primary reason why Bettes broke down wrong. There isn't a way to crop it out since it is an essential segway into the death toll. Going back I would make a statement using Tuscaloosa as a segway into the topic of the death toll, but in a more focused manner. Small Correction: The final song credited "Someday, Sometime" is created by KARUT, not KARUTS, small typo. Will update this if needed. Small Correction: "Kansas Motor Speedway" is NOT the official name of the speedway in Kansas City, it's just Kansas Speedway. The reason I called it the Kansas Motor Speedway is that (I know this sounds dumb), the track is listed as "Kansas Motor Speedway" in NR2003, and I believed that's what it was called. If you look up Kansas Motor Speedway, it brings up the Kansas Speedway with no problem whatsoever.
Alferia, thank you for this well researched video. I find you to be quite knowledgeable on the EF ratings in your videos. I'm sorry about the 🧌. And the fact that they want to focus on some detail they think they know more about after watching a couple 10 minute videos, instead of the fact that people DIED, lives were destroyed and a city was decimated. Please, keep up the great work. There are a lot of people who have tons of respect for what you do.
If Will and his dad (and everyone else at the graduation) had just stayed at the graduation instead of trying to go home they would have all been safe.. yes, R.I.P. Will Norton, aka Will da Beast... and everyone else who passed away in Joplin. ❤❤❤❤
This was the first time I saw a storm chaser cry when he realised how many people had been killed in this storm (Jeff Piotrowski). It shows how devastating it truly was.
“There’s bodies, there’s literally bodies all over this neighborhood, I already found like 6 or 7 people” Probably my favorite footage of any tornado video, because it showed just how raw and real these situations can be, the trauma it causes, nothing can prepare you for what you might come across being the first one on the scene in just devastation. That clip gives me chills and makes me emotional.
Jeff has such a huge heart. The crap that guy has seen! He was one of the first on scene at Moore '99, too. I don't know how he keeps it up! 😭 Talk about PTSD!!
I'm from Joplin. I went through this in 2011. I was newly 19 years old and pregnant with my daughter. I was about 6 months along. That day was a day I will never forget. I was in the 15th st Walmart. I remember it so well and I have PTSD severe anxiety and get over stimulated quickly hearing the sirens go off. I am uncontrollably panicking anytime we go under a watch. I can't handle wind on a nice day, the sounds cripple my body. It's really hurt my quality of life and even lead me to addiction. (8 years recovered) That day was the graduation day for 2011 kids. Lots of people were out and about celebrating their family as it was a Sunday. I got a call from my aunt saying there was a tornado downtown and to get somewhere NOW. My boyfriend and I decided to race to Walmart bc it was a huge building and down the road. I remember looking out past rangeline and seeing the darkest black I've ever seen. He dropped me off at the front and went to park his car. We didn't know it was deadly. We didn't know it had already wiped out half our town. We didn't know what was to come. I got into Walmart and instantly the lights went out and I'm guessing the flood lights or emergency lights came on. It was here. We went to the back to the electronic aisle and got Down low. His mom and stepdad were there. His mom was on bottom, then me then my bf and his stepdad. We all balled up and held on. Saying our I love yous, praying and crying. I remember watching the display tvs falling on people who were down low. The loud train like sound it brought and the pressure. Going thru that and hearing the boom was life changing. It was a packed Walmart as it was a Sunday afternoon. So many people before hand but once it hit us I remember seeing no one. The hail I'll never forget. People had to use debris on their head to protect themselves. I remember the amount of dirt and roofing and debris is my hair, it was sandlike like we had just left the beach. All the emergency exits we found were blocked by walls that had fallen. We finally had to use the fish tanks as a ladder to climb out. The glass had broken and it was a makeshift ladder. I got a cut on my leg that was superficial. I was wearing flip flops and shorts that day. I never knew what was to come. The days after are a blur, we went to memorial hall to check out our baby and she was alive and well. She's now a healthy and beautiful 12 year old. If you read this cool, if not it was therapeutic to write out MY story. I have so many unwritten memories and what I remember. Our home wasn't blown away, sometimes I kick myself for leaving. We were right in Duquesne but more farther east so our home was safe. We found an X-ray of a head from St. John's in our yard. The debris had flown so far. I love Joplin it's been a hard time for our town but we have rebuilt and grown. It's a beautiful city. We had another tornado go thru the area may 6, it was a ef-1 but still anxiety ridden. As is the reason I'm watching tornado videos. My brain needed to remember what I went thru. Thanks for reading my experience. RIP to all the ones we lost in this storm. And the ones who we lost after who took their own lives from the trauma. We will never forget you ❤️
Thank you for your story. I’m so sorry you all had to go through that. I cannot even imagine the lasting trauma that you’ve experienced. I have PTSD and anxiety from other things but I know how crippling it can be. I hope that someday you can have a little peace and start to heal.
I drove through Joplin back in 2014. It was only 3 years after that tornado and the trees were still barren of leaves. Driving down the interstate, those same trees were all pointed in the same diagonal direction. We had breakfast in town, and went to a McDonald's, and then later a park, both brand new, brand new houses everywhere, but in the distance, those trees still line the forests. Like rows of tombstones in a graveyard, they all pointed towards us, stripped of bark and leaves. The memory of that tornado is so strong it embedded itself into the trees. Rest in peace all those who were lost that day.
Wow I’m headed to Tennessee this year road trip via work and I will be passing Joplin , we use to go through there from California quite often back in the day , my uncle was a truck driver
May dad drove through Joplin one week after tornado my dad got evacuated from the city When the tornado happened he said he saw a black spot that was very big and looked like a cone
As someone who lived in the Joplin area when the EF5 tornado occurred, this was a really great video focusing not just on the tornado itself but the day too, and especially on the people it impacted! While I wasn't directly stuck by the tornado itself, seeing my hometown be ripped to shreds was something I will never forget. It's the whole reason I gained such a passion for tornadoes and weather in general. Once again, great work!
you’re not alone..those images of the aftermath are not ones to forget…my trailer got lucky and no damage was done whatsoever to my neighborhood bc the tornado turned away last second. but just going through all that was so traumatizing…
It's history and community needs to be heavily remembered. There's so much to joplin and it's surrounding areas. People like Bonnie and Clyde were in the area. Even George Washington Carver was born nearby. The nature is beautiful too. I just love the area so much.
As a lifelong NASCAR fan, I remember seeing the news about Joplin as a young kid. Jamie McMurray was one of my favorite drivers during his time in NASCAR, and I always remembered when they showed where a driver was from before a race or during qualifying, that he was from Joplin. Didn't think you'd even mention him, so I was blindsided when I immediately recognized the audio from the 2010 Daytona 500. I never actually knew about his visit after the tornado, so thank you for including that
Ivan’s interview was a eye opener for me. Dude went though the 7 circles of hell while probably knocked out and he STILL cheated death with all his injuries. I hope he will be ok for the rest of his time on Earth here. Overall, amazing documentary Alferia. ❤
I took note of his injuries, and im still amazed how lucky he is. Major Concussion Hematoma Small skull fracture Broken clavicle in 3 places 8 broken ribs Broken wrist Broken forearm Dislocated shoulder Rotator cuff torn Broken shin bone Dislocated hip Right knee hyper extended Right hand completely crushed Lost feelings in both ring finger and pinky (right hand) Covered in major cuts and bruises Orbital Bone Fracture (Left eye)
I believe the only reason he survived was because he was asleep, had he been awake he would have undoubtedly tensed up causing more damage to his body and killing him
In all honesty for me the physical damage pales in comparison to the mental scars I still have to this day. Overall aside from a few visible scars, pain in my shoulder and knee, and not being able to fully close two fingers physically I'm completely fine, it ruined my rodeo touring for 2011-2012, I finally started riding broncos again in mid 2013 but I had a difficult time getting back into the sport.
@@savageoffroadmowers6199 Thank you for giving us an update. I'm super surprised you were able to get back into the sport at all. I would have been terrified of rebreaking bones. Come back in '26 when there's a 15th anniversary video to let us know what you're up to
@@jeanhiebert3425 well I gave up on rodeo to turn into a whitewater kayaker and long distance swimmer so I'll probably still be doing that in another 2 years. If I was the age I am now I probably couldn't have gotten back into rodeo but I was 18 at the time young dumb and full of vinegar, I've got older and come to realize that I'm not as bulletproof as I thought I was then but it's hard to kill a farm boy
I remember randomly being recommended your Jarrell video almost 2 years ago and thinking, "Wow this is really high production value for such a small channel." Now, you're about to hit 50k. Congrats, it's well deserved.
Got hearing from Ivan can't imagine falling asleep one moment and next moment your house is demolished and you are badly injured being woken up by a guy asking if you are alive.
@@autumnhomestead I'm one of those late reaction to pain kind of people, like I watch myself shut my finger in a car door and I'm sitting there like 'oh this isn't good' then a few moments later 'oh yeah that really smarts holy cow'. I was pretty exhausted from riding about a thousand mile leg of my journey from Montana back to Georgia, we'd left on Monday from boseman grabbed a couple of hotels rooms, we rode east from Montana along i-90 into South Dakota then kicked south down i-29 to Kansas City before tying into i-49 to Joplin, the scenic route if you will and got in late Thursday evening, more or less id planned on napping out Sunday afternoon getting dinner then getting up Monday morning and riding straight through to home. Well unfortunately I didn't make it home for another 2 weeks and that was in my mom's car instead of my 2006 Honda Shadow 1100 that to this day I have no idea what happened to, as far as I know my motorcycle was never found. Whether it was tossed into a body of water, ripped apart, carried away and dropped in a dense forest area or just found and never reported by someone who knows. As for my ex she decided to stay in Missouri with her dad and help him try to recover and we kinda lost touch. I've never been back to that corner of Missouri and these days I don't have a reason to travel to the Midwest or west. Id like to stay far away from tornadoes and severe weather but I still see more than my fair share of it here in GA and I have the pictures to prove it lol lord knows I've posted enough of them in alferias discord server
I loved the Jamie McMurray input in this. Bring two loves together in one. Knowledge of Tornados and NASCAR. Didn't know he did that though. That was definitely a wholesome moment
This tornado has been covered so many times, but you've once again managed to dig for stories and impacts that no one has highlighted, and made it engaging, interesting, and emotionally moving. I appreciate all the work that went into this.
People can say that all they want, but when people get warning after warning where everything ends up fine, many are going to stop immediately heeding those warnings. That's just human nature. Especially in a society where we have warnings on everything. And while meteorologists do a pretty good job of trying to limit unnecessary warnings, there's only so much that can be done. Even with as much as forecasts have improved, most people under tornado warnings don't get hit by a tornado.
I live in Louisiana. My first near death hurricane was Betsy in New Orleans. Anywhere in this state can be dangerous because of hurricanes and severe storms, very high winds, bad lightning, and tornadoes can happen at any time and catch you off guard. Two hurricanes hit my region in 2020 and the power was out for nearly 3 weeks. The home I was in was badly damaged but was repaired. Two tornadoes touched down near me in a 12 month period, both in December, one at 2am and another around 4pm, and I live in a camper. I could hear them both. Reed Timmer actually saw the one that was in the daytime and I was watching his livestream when he spotted it. The one that happened at 2am wasn`t storm warned until 2 minutes after I recognized what the roar to my southeast was. Thankfully it was in a swampy area near a lake and no structures or homes were damaged. The only shelter I have is a very deep drainage ravine and a 10ft long 3ft diameter iron culvert under my driveway made decades ago by an oil company to support the weight of drilling equipment. The culvert and ravine is 130 feet away. But when lightning is bad, and it always is during these storms, it`s a huge risk to be outside and it always hits nearby. Several pine trees were hit and killed 25 feet from the culvert during the 2am tornado. At least I know lightning hit that general spot that night and now the group of trees are brown.
Where im at in Michigan, we get quite a few Warnings whether it's Tornado or severe thunderstorms. I get things ready in my basement but everyone else laughs at me. They always tell me were never gonna get a tornado, im like never say never.
@@christinagowan8116no judgement here. Honestly, if I lived anywhere near tornadoes, I would just live in a basement bunker, no doubts about it. I'm so glad I live far, far away from that sorta stuff
Been chasing and studying storms for years now and the 2011 Joplin tornado is the only one that truly terrifies me. Something about it is just so ominous, even before the death toll was realized, something about this tornado was just... different. I still get chills when I see pictures of it. 2011 was a unreal year and I wouldn't be surprised if we never see another year like it. Rest in peace to all those who were lost on that horrifying day.
We will, not now, not anytime soon, but it could be happening ina year or longer, we don't know, It's possible for a tornado like that to occur once again.
2011 was a year of exceptions for Tornadoes of all sorts it's honestly hard not to regard it with some measure of superstitious awe looking back as they raked their way across the southeast, I just found out recently a lot of people that survived the initial Joplin incident died horrible deaths weeks later due to contracting flesh-eating fungal infections from their thought to be minor debris wounds, the Joplin Tornado was just the malignant gift that kept on giving.
This led to many studies on the high death toll. It was called the cry wolf factor. There had been so many warnings in the years past, many people just no longer thought anything would happen. Sadly, by the time many people realized this time was the real thing, it was too late. I didn't take tornado warnings lightly before this, but I ABSOLUTELY wouldn't take them lightly after this. May all the victims rest in peace. 🙏
James Spann talked EXTENSIVELY about this here in Alabama after April 27, especially in regards to sirens. They need to be removed permanently. I live north of Huntsville (where the Phil Cambell-Hackelburg went through) and if you work in town in Huntsville, you hear the sirens test EVERY Wednesday, 52 weeks a year, not counting when they're actually activated for warnings. Years and decades of hearing them, you get complacent and used to it. EVEN NOW after April 27, Joplin, El Reno, Moore '13, people have gone RIGHT BACK to relying on sirens. People and businesses don't have weather radios, people don't put local weather apps on their phones to get polygon warnings, people are back to not taking these monsters seriously. They naively think, "Oh, what are the chances it'll hit MEEEE??" and brush early warnings away, even acute warnings. We're sadly WAAAY overdue for a major tornado here, nationally really. And here we go....look at Nebraska, Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas the last seven days! The NWS just confirmed an EF4 yesterday, Elkhorn had a MASSIVE 1mi+ (possibly much larger?) wedge, Lakeland had preliminary 260mph+ winds.... They're back 😔
The list of Ivan’s injuries is insane to hear but I’m glad you included it. When you hear the word “injured” I don’t think most people think about life changing injuries.
I went through Joplin a week after the tornado on my way to Dallas. I ended up staying for two weeks and volunteered for clean up and to help feed the thousands of people who had nowhere else to go. It was the hardest two weeks of my life as I listened to peoples stories.
Out of any tornado ive seen. Joplin will always be the most terrifying. Watching it go from a tiny rope to a city annihilating behemoth in under a minute still sends chills up my spine. Those poor people had no chance to react
the joplin mo tornado, was honestly something that almost brought me to tears as a teen, when i first saw the devastation on live tv. plus 2011 was a very rough year for me mentally speaking, so to see that just broke my heart. the only reason why i even watched the weather was because i still had a major interest in weather as a teen, along with a few other interests, such as game development and medicine. as a 29 year old man now, it fascinates me today. and at one point, joplin was on my list of places to move to, just to get out of tennessee. however, weather isn't in my top interests, its still a interest, as mother earth truly fascinates me and makes me fear her as well. its a love/hate relationship kinda today, partially due to one close call a few years back. and probably will be a love/hate relationship, till i get a nice custom built home i can feel safe in. however.. im definitely not gonna sit on my ass all day. if severe weather hits, i do want to save some lives in the process, im only human after all. i may fear tornadoes but i'd love to observe them from a distance, and report to proper authorities in the process. so hopefully the webinar tomorrow (as of the date of writing this comment) by NWS norman helps me get a good idea of how to spot storms, and stuff like that.
I'm 29 and about to turn 30 next month. 2011 was also a very hard year for me. There was something about 2011 in how much uneasiness the entire year felt. The number of disasters that occurred this year was also tragic and unprecedented.
@@dannyllerenatv8635yea i guess that year was rough on everyone. i may have been 17 but shit, i was just burnt out of school honestly, like there was one morning i woke up, and it seemed like i just wanted to quit everything, and just play video games. but my dad helped me pull through. and on top of it, the disasters and stuff.. it really puts life into perspective just from looking at that year with hindsight, nearly 13 years later.
I watched the clean up after Hurricane Katrina on the MS coast. They had 6 locations that burned debris constantly for a month. I got a strange cough after Katrina they called Katrina cough. It was from a fungus, mold and inhaling insulation. I know many from Mississippi went to Joplin to help out.
This is the first time I’ve almost cried listening to a video you make. When you spoke about Will Norton and how he graduated and got acceptance into film school and then died after in 2 seconds I felt choked up. It really breaks your heart listening to that, as someone who is his age and is still working on graduating right now so I can become an engineer to hopefully build houses that don’t break down and fail from violent storms of all types. This was truly an emotional watch and hopefully one day I’ll make an impact for the better your videos are really good and I look forward to seeing your channel grow because this stuff should frankly be more mainstream
I grew up in Paducah just across the border basically in Kentucky. My parents and I went to bring relief supplies and it was beyond spooky where there was just lines through the trees
On May 31 of 1985, an F-5, (time before enhanced Fujita scale) hit way too close to my hometown in NE Ohio. I was living elsewhere at the time, in the area around our National Capitol, in Northern Virginia. A friend of mine from back in Ohio was in Virginia visiting me that weekend. So, that Friday afternoon, we went out to dinner, then we went out for a few drinks. We got back to my apartment after midnight, and turned on the TV news, just out of habit. On the screen, there was aerial footage being shown, depicting horrible destruction. I just thought to myself, oh, probably Beirut. (Terrible battles in and around Lebanon around that era.) However, then I heard the reporter saying, "this is the view from Niles, Ohio, following a devastating tornado." Needless to say, she and I began *freaking out*, trying desperately to call our parents to make sure they were okay. I guess lines were down, plus, so many people were trying to contact loved ones, that we were unable to get through till around 2 or 3 AM. Thankfully, the tornado had touched down a bit north of where our parent's homes were, and everybody was okay. But, later that summer, I went back to Ohio to attend a family reunion. My mom & I drove up to the airport, very close to where the tornado had hit, to pick up family members. I saw all these lines of trees down, and asked if they were doing construction for new housing or some such. My mom said, no. That's the path of the tornado!! 😱😱 This was in August, and it looked still as though the tornado had just gone through moments ago. These huge, old, solidly anchored trees lying down like pickup sticks. The destruction is just mind boggling. That tornado is still firmly entrenched in local lore, near 40 years later. I was also living in Alabama on April 27, 2011. Thankfully, we lived in South Alabama, on the Gulf Coast near Mobile. We got horrible storms that day, but, nothing like Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, Cullman, Phil Campbell, or the other places up in the north of the state, where so many lost their lives. It was, however, beautiful to see how the people of our state came together, to help those who'd lost so much.
I remember I was in 1st grade in spring field MO maybe 45 minutes away and watched live we got hail and lightning but that was the worst of it My dad and I took his van down there maybe a month after and I remember the clean up it looked like a bomb went off I didn’t really understand as a kid how much this shook up peoples lives
I went out to volunteer in Kentucky, went to all the devastated towns. The coverage of it will never do it justice. Seeing it in person is something I will never forget. Hearing the alarms going off for an entire week… I’ll never forget it. Towns just wiped clean off the map.
I had to pause the video a couple times in order to take a deep breath and not start crying. And I'm not a big cryer. Some of the stories from this storm are so utterly gut wrenching.
This tornado along with Moore 2013 influences me a lot due to my ties to Joplin (my father grew up in the Joplin area, and my grandmother lived there at the time the tornado hit - she lived…)
I'm a SW MO native and had the day off of work when this happened. I watched it all happen on our local weather that covered the Joplin area too. It was horrifying and heartbreaking and I remember being angry that the tornado wouldn't stop. You did a wonderful job with this video.
Well done as usual! Your grandparents are so proud of you! ❤Ivan’s story was very upsetting 😢God bless him 🙏🏻people who are injured by tornadoes are often completely ignored or brushed over so I’m grateful to him for sharing his terrifying story of survival and explaining how severely injured he was. Praying for him. I know it was almost 13 years ago but I know he is probably still struggling with his injuries or the PTSD that he has to endure. I pray we don’t see a year like 2011 ever again. Also Convective Chronicles or Trey is an amazing channel for all things 🌪️ both current events and retrospective breakdowns of past tornado events. Excellent work as always ❤
I remember going to Joplin a week after with a volunteer group from in AZ, when we finally got there we drove into the city and it looked fine, until all of a sudden, everything was gone.... I remember seeing boats wrapped around trees, like they were a part of the tree... The devastation was incredible. I'm glad I was able to help for a week, working at a warehouse distributing food and water. Some people were trying to find joy in living, going around town I seen a rubble of house, someone put up a big piece of plywood, "YARD SALE, EVERYTHING FREE", it made me chuckle and laugh and cry at the same time.
I cried while watching this video. I knew a lot about what happened in Joplin before watching it, but seeing the devastation to people's lives hit me so hard. In 5th grade, I read a book about what happened in Joplin. It ignited my interest in tornadoes, and now, looking back and seeing what this tornado has done to people, it devastates me.
I remember this tornado vividly, especially hearing stories about the destruction of the old hospital and the Pizza Hut, Walmart, Home Depot, & and the Rangeline Road area of the city district.. this thing was a monster in its own characteristic with the stage of the tornado being heavily rain wrapped and dark like it was midnight really fast
There's a video of a group on a storm chasing tour during this tornado. They were on the main road just minutes before it hit and obliterated everything behind them. You can hear their mood go from excitement when first see it, to fear and despair when they realize what just happened. Gives me chills every time I watch it.
I grew up in KC and was in high school when the tornado hit. Even two hours away, the possibility of that happening so close was terrifying. It led to an incredible amount of anxiety for me during any storm. Fast forward to now where I’ve moved to Joplin. I just got here six months ago, right off of Connecticut in the path of where the tornado hit. You can see the scars where they rebuilt it. In the oddly placed new buildings next to dated ones. They’ve done an amazing job creating new spaces out of the devastation. And the city itself is slowly growing with younger people because the cost of living is low here and many people are working remotely. But moving down here was hard for me. I was (and still am) terrified of tornadoes and am uneasy living in the path of where the tornado hit. Thank you for your video. It’s comforting to understand why things happened the way they did and how it happened. Getting the full picture alleviates the anxiety a bit knowing what led to the disaster.
I was there to visit my grandpa cause he worked for FEMA, and was helping the clean up operation. Even though I was young, I still remember the stripped bark off trees, and the piles of rubble around the many concrete foundations while I was walking around with my family and grandpa.
Will Norton has such an ironic story in a weird way. He made a video about almost dying from severe weather on his RUclips channel and that’s the way he went out. I’ve known about his story for years but it just hit me now that he had a fear over severe weather, he talked about it being one of the scariest days of his life. It’s almost like he’s describing the day he passed away if you get what I mean. It’s just weird like how rappers make a music video about their own funerals and end up passing away after
When I was going thru school, I remember hearing about Joplin more than say Moore which was also an EF5. It was so heartbreaking seeing the damage on the news. Thank you for this VERY well put together & respectful analysis and touching on everything and anything important. Amazing piece as always !
Thanks for your video. I was at work on the southeast side of Joplin in a production plant. We sheltered until the all clear. I left at 6:30 pm. My wife couldn't reach me since we lived in the north side of Joplin. I walked through the damage on 20th street near Dillons.
I remember going to help with some of the relief efforts after this tornado. I was only 13, so I truly don't think it was all hitting me, just how truly devastating all of this was. But, I do remember entire blocks being leveled. One block would be nearly untouched, and the next block over houses were gone down to the foundation. I remember cleaning up a field of debris miles from where the tornado's path actually was. Hearing accounts from the locals about what happened was insane
I don't know how you do these videos. You handle them so well, with superb attention to detail. I fight tears in nearly every video. You emphasize the humanity surrounding these terrible events. Well done, sir. You're a stronger man than I am in some ways.
i drove through joplin with my parents back in july 2022. we were there for barely even an hour since we were driving back from a funeral in arkansas. it really felt eerie to be there since i've read books on the tornado and since a tornado had actually just caused massive damage just to the east of where i live, but i wasn't really paying attention very well to it. i will say though, if you get a chance to go to joplin, go to chick fil a. the employees there are very nice
Ouch. Ivan's description of his injuries hurts me to hear. He is lucky that he was unconscious during the time he was receiving all of those broken bones. I guess getting knocked unconscious first was kind of a blessing.
I remember watching this stuff unfold on weather channel, my grandpa looked at me and said, be ready. He had a sad look on his face for them. Luckily it didnt get bad across the Mississippi River for us.
I’m an Alabama native and I remember this hitting the news. We were in the midst of the devastation from April 27th and this news shocked us. So much sympathy for the people in Joplin as we knew what they were dealing with firsthand. None of us will ever forget where we were and all we saw in 2011. I moved to Florida in 2017 and have now had to deal with hurricanes …. Worst in my area was Irma so far. But I’ll tell you that I much prefer this to enduring more tornadoes like those in 2011. The damage they can inflict in mere minutes is hard to comprehend until you’ve seen it yourself.
Thank you for the great video. I always love to watch anything on Tornadoes.. when I lost faith in humanity.. seeing them come together helping each other is always uplifting to watch. I appreciate all of the hard work put into these videos and it always entertains.
Crazy I'm from Southern Illinois but I just happen to be in Joplin. Just got back to my room after working on the Menards they are building Sit down fire up RUclips and this was the first recommendation!
I was visiting a friend the Saturday before it hit. I left Sunday morning and went back home , watched it hit on my television, i had no contact from my friend for a few days. She lived by the Walmart and Lowe's stores ,her home was destroyed but she and her son made out with no injuries . It was the worst destruction I've ever seen. I have seen plenty of damage from hurricanes when i lived in South Louisiana nothing compared to Joplin. God bless all of the survivors,
the old man's story was absolutely brutal. imagine hearing a voice and desperately digging to save its owner, only to find a crude imitation of a person, and right next to it a dead real person.
I used to live in Joplin and went to highschool there back in the late 90s. We moved to Texas but found out the house we lived in was flatten by this tornado. Very spooky indeed . I lost contact with friends there and hope they all made it through.
I am from Baxter springs Kansas, the storms merged right over our town, will never forget that day as long as I live, I’ve never seen the sky like jt was
I missed this tornado by about 20 minutes. I was travelling from Ft. Smith back to Wyoming and man was that weather crazy. I passed through Joplin and at a gas station not too far, we heard about the city getting destroyed.
Not only did this thing happen on my birthday when I was 17, I drove through a year later. There were still trees there that were entirely stripped of their bark. Brand new buildings next to repaired/still damaged buildings. It was haunting.
I was sick at home in Fortuna, Missouri (about 3 hours northeast of Joplin) when this was happening, while my siblings were just getting home about an hour before it touched down. They had bus riders stay and take cover as we got hit by the northern parts of the storm. I remember listening as everything got worse and worse until we eventually lost power and went into our parents’ bedroom to wait it out. I was too young to really understand the severity of what had happened. It breaks my heart every time I hear someone’s story about the Joplin tornado, because I know that if the storm had changed direction it very well could have been me 💔
@@darthdemented The storm went all night and into the next day for us. We were northeast by quite a bit so it didn’t get bad until around the time they let us out from school (it was our last week). My siblings were gone all weekend and were just getting home with my mom about an hour before Joplin was hit. I was home sick over the weekend and all day Monday so I got to see the different spurts before our big storm. I apologize I do see the confusion there, and I hope this makes more sense 😅
The scary thing for Ivan is that he probably did not sleep through the storm. The shock of his injuries and the concussion caused him to forget what happened. A friend of mine had a bad motorcycle accident and she could not remember anything that happened, just was riding one minute and in the hospital the next
Kinda late but awesome video, but when I saw how the Joplin tornado form when small sub-vortices form into this massive and deadly multi-vortex/wedge tornado in a few seconds is really horrifying.
montana also got 164 inches of snow...... then a years worth of rain in march 2012 (or was the snow in 2010, and the rain in march 2011? idk, it was 2011 however) the rain melted all the snow.... causing MASSIVE!!! flooding
The first half of 2011 was wild, including this tornado, the 2011 Super Outbreak, and the massive earthquake and tsunami that rocked Japan and killed thousands.
Wow! Well worth the wait. You've crafted an excellent comprehensive presentation of this momentous tragedy. Not only have you given us an understandable explanation of the meteorology and a granular look at the destruction, but you've managed to convey the lasting emotional effects on survivors and people intimately connected to Joplin as well as to the meteorologists. Thanks!
Something about the Joplin tornado fascinates me, the sheer power of this storm was spectacular. What I took from this storm was always heed warnings and watches. As a fellow Missouri resident, we get a lot of watches and warnings, we’re in tornado valley after all. However, I think Joplin is a great example of paying attention to those warnings, all while coming together to rebuild.
I lived in Joplin my entire life and I was 2 years old when it hit. Nowadays Joplin has improved heavily adding new restaurants, stores, etc. I loved watching every second of this documentary and educating everyone about never forgetting about this.❤
I actually live only a few towns over from Joplin, and I was born in St John’s hospital a few months before this all went down. I never really got to see the damage as I was too young, but just being a tad related to all of by being someone who commonly goes to Joplin and was born there is kind of cool.
I remember hearing about the Joplin Tornado on local news at first I though it destroyed a major town and not a city! I only watched a few videos on youtube and was probably the fastest violent tornado to have formed! I hadn't yet graps how bad the 2011 Tornado Season was. But did know 2011 was pretty bad year for natural disaster!
I lost a family member that day. As a lifelong resident of Kansas, we had become somewhat uninterested in the watches and warnings. We learned 161 hard lessons that day. I live in a tiny town north of Joplin and everyone in our community helped out anyway we could. Thank you for covering the Human aspect of this weather tragedy ❤
Man, I was just a kid when this happened but up in Canada, we remember it clear as day. It was all over the news, every channel, breaking news covering the damage, like it was a Terrorist Attack. I was young at the time, so I didn't understand it, but I can barely remember the shock and speechlessness of the people around me. In Ontario, Tornadoes are a rarity, but we are familiar with them. We only get maybe 10 a year. But, seeing Joplin on the news was something else. The most raw and pure definition of "Absolute Carnage". When you hear "Monster Tornado", you think of the Joplin Storm. It was invisible killer that sucker-punched the town when they didn't belive it was there until it was too late. Glad to see it's recovered and rebuilt, mostly. Fun Fact, Joplin is the only other town I'm familiar with, alongside Moore, that have "Driveways to nowhere". It's a high population of empty plots of land in residential areas where the strong Tornadoes have leveled homes, and people just left and didn't rebuild, leaving only their driveway behind.
I was a kid when Joplin was hit, I lived in a small town about 30 minutes away- and the only thing my Paramedic dad sent to my mom when he arrived to help like so many other nearby towns/counties were the words 'dear God'. I have an uncle who is probably only alive today because he stayed late at work in the Pepsi plant outside of town he worked at at the time. This was a MONSTER of nature
Really well put together video. This tornado is so important to remember as seeing an EF5 plow through a city is absolutely awful. I remember watching the weather channel and seeing Mike Bettes on air. That was so raw. 31:00 I can't imagine watching TV, falling asleep while watching TV, and then waking up to a random person asking if you are ok with everything being obiterated around you. Absolutly raw and so glad Ivan survived.
I survived Joplin. My house got obliterated, and man do I still have scars. Mental AND physical scars. I had lost my mother and I’m lucky to even still be alive. And to think I was only 12 at the time
Wonderful video! :D Love it just as much as always! Edit: I especially love how you interview people who experienced what you're talking about, very cool.
There’s one thing that me and my co worker talked about the other day, I live near the webberville area and we had a high end EF2 a few months back, but it’s believed to have been 2 of them and it was a nocturnal tornado, I still have the video of when it touched down near my apartment, it was super scary and we didn’t get power back for a week.. the cleanup is still not finished.
i'm from missouri (not joplin but close) i wasn't too old at the time of the tornado but i remember my parents being really torn up about it both of them had survived hurricane katrina and it was that all over again for them. my dad especially because he grew up in new orleans and now another generation had to go through what he had
Its a sobering grim reminder just how devastating nature can get. When an EF5 is going to basically hit your area directly adjacent to its center, with winds hitting 300MPH+...theres really not a whole hell of a lot you can physically do but hope and pray where your at holds together long enough for you to survive. That bit with the Pizza hut...those two tried so hard to save everyone present among them...
I lived near Joplin around the time it happened. I remember distinctly having to visit my cousin for about 2 weeks after. He’d been thrown from his vehicle and had to go to the hospital. A raging infection kept fighting him for his life. He was only 6 then. And yet, although by a miracle? He pulled through. He’s now a proud dad. I might check in on him, it’s been a long time since I’d heard from him. Last I saw him was at a family reunion years ago.
This was one of those worst-case scenarios. An alarm-weary population and a tornado that forms right on the edge of a city and rapidly intensifies into EF4/EF5 strength as it impacts dense neighborhoods and busy commercial districts.
Ive been to joplin the other day and its amazing how much was rebuilt, you can still see some areas that weren't rebuilt but mainly everything is rebuilt. The area has lots of cool places and history. Edit: whoops I forgot you mentioned the may 5th tornado.
Florida's deadliest tornado outbreak hit over night in February. I'd love to see you do a video on it. You do such a good job! Celton Anderson is the only storm documentary I can find on it. The rest are just short news clips. I survived this with the tornado barely missing my home. Love to help if you decided to do a video on it.
The actual reason why Mike Bettis got all choked up when he was reporting about the tornadoes in Tuscaloosa and Birmingham is that he saw a dead body that was completely mangled.... and it's actually in the video footage that you put in this video presentation. If you look close, you'll be able to see it, but the cameraman moves quickly away from that area when he saw it. 😢😮😢 R.I.P. to all of the people that passed away on that horrible day in May 2011. ❤❤❤❤
I grew up in Duquesne, graduated Joplin High. My entire family still lives there. This was so devistating. I have seen many videos, but really appreciate this video. Alot of information, and not just that day itself.
my family went to a wedding in Joplin a day or two before the tornado. By some miracle we left before the tornado and then got home after the North Minneapolis tornada almost tore it up as well(I live 3.5 miles from the Anoka county airport). Everyone who went to the wedding thankfully had left town already when the tornado hit.
It's ok my guy we know you're busy with school. Thanks for showing us some love by giving us your unique perspective of of the Joplin tornado. Good luck with mid terms!
I never knew Jamie did that, huge nascar fan and I’ve always really liked Jamie, now that I know this, he might just be the greatest driver of all time
Corrections:
Correction: Footage at 22:47 is NOT from Dillon's. I thought that was from the Dillon's since the description of the circumstances from the reporting (Both from CBS and Fox News) Implies that it could have been Dillon's but it was actually not. I apologize for that.
Correction: At 40:49 I said what caused Mike Bettes to break down on Live TV was due to the fatigue brought by the 2011 Super Outbreak. My original thinking for why that was the case was that he began to break down right before mentioning Tuscaloosa. Based on word association, I believed it was a combination of meteorological fatigue and the scene itself. However, it's has come to my attention over the past few months that the actual reason is much darker. According to the 20 Minutes in May presentation (Which I did watch for this video) and other sources, the reason Bettes broke down was because he saw the bodies of the deceased in the rubble nearby. This makes a whole lot more sense, but I do think there is still a case to make that fatigue from the 2011 super outbreak played a role. Not as big as I made it out to be and I apologize for getting the primary reason why Bettes broke down wrong. There isn't a way to crop it out since it is an essential segway into the death toll. Going back I would make a statement using Tuscaloosa as a segway into the topic of the death toll, but in a more focused manner.
Small Correction: The final song credited "Someday, Sometime" is created by KARUT, not KARUTS, small typo. Will update this if needed.
Small Correction: "Kansas Motor Speedway" is NOT the official name of the speedway in Kansas City, it's just Kansas Speedway. The reason I called it the Kansas Motor Speedway is that (I know this sounds dumb), the track is listed as "Kansas Motor Speedway" in NR2003, and I believed that's what it was called. If you look up Kansas Motor Speedway, it brings up the Kansas Speedway with no problem whatsoever.
RIP WILLDABEEST
I did a presentation about the 2011 Joplin Missouri Ef5 in my 9th grade college and career class in front of everyone and my crush
Alferia, thank you for this well researched video. I find you to be quite knowledgeable on the EF ratings in your videos.
I'm sorry about the 🧌.
And the fact that they want to focus on some detail they think they know more about after watching a couple 10 minute videos, instead of the fact that people DIED, lives were destroyed and a city was decimated.
Please, keep up the great work. There are a lot of people who have tons of respect for what you do.
If Will and his dad (and everyone else at the graduation) had just stayed at the graduation instead of trying to go home they would have all been safe.. yes, R.I.P. Will Norton, aka Will da Beast... and everyone else who passed away in Joplin. ❤❤❤❤
Would you consider covering the rolling fork tornado? I watched it live, but don’t really know all that much
This was the first time I saw a storm chaser cry when he realised how many people had been killed in this storm (Jeff Piotrowski). It shows how devastating it truly was.
“There’s bodies, there’s literally bodies all over this neighborhood, I already found like 6 or 7 people” Probably my favorite footage of any tornado video, because it showed just how raw and real these situations can be, the trauma it causes, nothing can prepare you for what you might come across being the first one on the scene in just devastation. That clip gives me chills and makes me emotional.
@@alexhughes4294 Yes, very bad.
Jeff has such a huge heart. The crap that guy has seen! He was one of the first on scene at Moore '99, too. I don't know how he keeps it up! 😭 Talk about PTSD!!
The Mike Bettes video outside the hospital is a rough one to watch too
Mike bettes was the one I remember
I'm from Joplin.
I went through this in 2011. I was newly 19 years old and pregnant with my daughter. I was about 6 months along.
That day was a day I will never forget. I was in the 15th st Walmart. I remember it so well and I have PTSD severe anxiety and get over stimulated quickly hearing the sirens go off. I am uncontrollably panicking anytime we go under a watch. I can't handle wind on a nice day, the sounds cripple my body. It's really hurt my quality of life and even lead me to addiction. (8 years recovered)
That day was the graduation day for 2011 kids.
Lots of people were out and about celebrating their family as it was a Sunday.
I got a call from my aunt saying there was a tornado downtown and to get somewhere NOW. My boyfriend and I decided to race to Walmart bc it was a huge building and down the road. I remember looking out past rangeline and seeing the darkest black I've ever seen. He dropped me off at the front and went to park his car. We didn't know it was deadly. We didn't know it had already wiped out half our town. We didn't know what was to come.
I got into Walmart and instantly the lights went out and I'm guessing the flood lights or emergency lights came on. It was here.
We went to the back to the electronic aisle and got Down low. His mom and stepdad were there.
His mom was on bottom, then me then my bf and his stepdad. We all balled up and held on. Saying our I love yous, praying and crying.
I remember watching the display tvs falling on people who were down low. The loud train like sound it brought and the pressure. Going thru that and hearing the boom was life changing. It was a packed Walmart as it was a Sunday afternoon.
So many people before hand but once it hit us I remember seeing no one. The hail I'll never forget. People had to use debris on their head to protect themselves.
I remember the amount of dirt and roofing and debris is my hair, it was sandlike like we had just left the beach. All the emergency exits we found were blocked by walls that had fallen.
We finally had to use the fish tanks as a ladder to climb out. The glass had broken and it was a makeshift ladder. I got a cut on my leg that was superficial.
I was wearing flip flops and shorts that day.
I never knew what was to come.
The days after are a blur, we went to memorial hall to check out our baby and she was alive and well. She's now a healthy and beautiful 12 year old.
If you read this cool, if not it was therapeutic to write out MY story. I have so many unwritten memories and what I remember.
Our home wasn't blown away, sometimes I kick myself for leaving. We were right in Duquesne but more farther east so our home was safe.
We found an X-ray of a head from St. John's in our yard. The debris had flown so far.
I love Joplin it's been a hard time for our town but we have rebuilt and grown. It's a beautiful city.
We had another tornado go thru the area may 6, it was a ef-1 but still anxiety ridden. As is the reason I'm watching tornado videos. My brain needed to remember what I went thru.
Thanks for reading my experience. RIP to all the ones we lost in this storm. And the ones who we lost after who took their own lives from the trauma. We will never forget you ❤️
Thank you for your story. I’m so sorry you all had to go through that. I cannot even imagine the lasting trauma that you’ve experienced. I have PTSD and anxiety from other things but I know how crippling it can be. I hope that someday you can have a little peace and start to heal.
They will be forgotten... but... Oh my god... I'm so sorry that happened to you all.
I heard another interview with a guy that was in the electronics at Walmart also
May the Lord be with you. Despite the horror, somehow in all this, God is good and in control.
@@friedfish4415 God is the one who did this horror in the first place. He's in control, but he's far from good. Inhuman, other worldly, and scary.
I drove through Joplin back in 2014. It was only 3 years after that tornado and the trees were still barren of leaves. Driving down the interstate, those same trees were all pointed in the same diagonal direction. We had breakfast in town, and went to a McDonald's, and then later a park, both brand new, brand new houses everywhere, but in the distance, those trees still line the forests. Like rows of tombstones in a graveyard, they all pointed towards us, stripped of bark and leaves. The memory of that tornado is so strong it embedded itself into the trees. Rest in peace all those who were lost that day.
Wow I’m headed to Tennessee this year road trip via work and I will be passing Joplin , we use to go through there from California quite often back in the day , my uncle was a truck driver
You wrote that very beautifully for a very tragic event.
No. May the ones who were lost not rest in peace, but may the living rest in peace. And may the ones who were lost watch over the living.
May dad drove through Joplin one week after tornado my dad got evacuated from the city
When the tornado happened he said he saw a black spot that was very big and looked like a cone
As someone who lived in the Joplin area when the EF5 tornado occurred, this was a really great video focusing not just on the tornado itself but the day too, and especially on the people it impacted! While I wasn't directly stuck by the tornado itself, seeing my hometown be ripped to shreds was something I will never forget. It's the whole reason I gained such a passion for tornadoes and weather in general. Once again, great work!
you’re not alone..those images of the aftermath are not ones to forget…my trailer got lucky and no damage was done whatsoever to my neighborhood bc the tornado turned away last second. but just going through all that was so traumatizing…
Oh wow, youve done a lot on your channel. Subbed! ☺️
Let's not remember Joplin as just another tornado town.. but as one that built back from one of it's darkest days
Greensburg too.
Truly it did !! God was at the front of that ALL the way !
It's history and community needs to be heavily remembered. There's so much to joplin and it's surrounding areas. People like Bonnie and Clyde were in the area. Even George Washington Carver was born nearby. The nature is beautiful too. I just love the area so much.
Kinda hard not to remember Joplin as just another tornado town. You say “Joplin” and ppl immediately know the tornado and size on top of deaths
then why mention it..
As a lifelong NASCAR fan, I remember seeing the news about Joplin as a young kid. Jamie McMurray was one of my favorite drivers during his time in NASCAR, and I always remembered when they showed where a driver was from before a race or during qualifying, that he was from Joplin. Didn't think you'd even mention him, so I was blindsided when I immediately recognized the audio from the 2010 Daytona 500. I never actually knew about his visit after the tornado, so thank you for including that
To see a storm chaser and proffesional news casters just speechless and breaking down was honestly the most telling sign of just how insane this was.
Ivan’s interview was a eye opener for me. Dude went though the 7 circles of hell while probably knocked out and he STILL cheated death with all his injuries. I hope he will be ok for the rest of his time on Earth here. Overall, amazing documentary Alferia. ❤
I took note of his injuries, and im still amazed how lucky he is.
Major Concussion
Hematoma
Small skull fracture
Broken clavicle in 3 places
8 broken ribs
Broken wrist
Broken forearm
Dislocated shoulder
Rotator cuff torn
Broken shin bone
Dislocated hip
Right knee hyper extended
Right hand completely crushed
Lost feelings in both ring finger and pinky (right hand)
Covered in major cuts and bruises
Orbital Bone Fracture (Left eye)
I believe the only reason he survived was because he was asleep, had he been awake he would have undoubtedly tensed up causing more damage to his body and killing him
In all honesty for me the physical damage pales in comparison to the mental scars I still have to this day. Overall aside from a few visible scars, pain in my shoulder and knee, and not being able to fully close two fingers physically I'm completely fine, it ruined my rodeo touring for 2011-2012, I finally started riding broncos again in mid 2013 but I had a difficult time getting back into the sport.
@@savageoffroadmowers6199 Thank you for giving us an update. I'm super surprised you were able to get back into the sport at all. I would have been terrified of rebreaking bones. Come back in '26 when there's a 15th anniversary video to let us know what you're up to
@@jeanhiebert3425 well I gave up on rodeo to turn into a whitewater kayaker and long distance swimmer so I'll probably still be doing that in another 2 years. If I was the age I am now I probably couldn't have gotten back into rodeo but I was 18 at the time young dumb and full of vinegar, I've got older and come to realize that I'm not as bulletproof as I thought I was then but it's hard to kill a farm boy
I remember randomly being recommended your Jarrell video almost 2 years ago and thinking, "Wow this is really high production value for such a small channel." Now, you're about to hit 50k. Congrats, it's well deserved.
Got hearing from Ivan can't imagine falling asleep one moment and next moment your house is demolished and you are badly injured being woken up by a guy asking if you are alive.
For real. Especially as the pain hadn't hit yet, man was probably confused as heck, and then to get whammied like that... Terrifying
@@autumnhomestead I'm one of those late reaction to pain kind of people, like I watch myself shut my finger in a car door and I'm sitting there like 'oh this isn't good' then a few moments later 'oh yeah that really smarts holy cow'. I was pretty exhausted from riding about a thousand mile leg of my journey from Montana back to Georgia, we'd left on Monday from boseman grabbed a couple of hotels rooms, we rode east from Montana along i-90 into South Dakota then kicked south down i-29 to Kansas City before tying into i-49 to Joplin, the scenic route if you will and got in late Thursday evening, more or less id planned on napping out Sunday afternoon getting dinner then getting up Monday morning and riding straight through to home. Well unfortunately I didn't make it home for another 2 weeks and that was in my mom's car instead of my 2006 Honda Shadow 1100 that to this day I have no idea what happened to, as far as I know my motorcycle was never found. Whether it was tossed into a body of water, ripped apart, carried away and dropped in a dense forest area or just found and never reported by someone who knows. As for my ex she decided to stay in Missouri with her dad and help him try to recover and we kinda lost touch. I've never been back to that corner of Missouri and these days I don't have a reason to travel to the Midwest or west. Id like to stay far away from tornadoes and severe weather but I still see more than my fair share of it here in GA and I have the pictures to prove it lol lord knows I've posted enough of them in alferias discord server
if you can speak, you can claim that you are alive
I’d consider it a full blown miracle that Ivan is still alive
That's wild! Thank goodness he still had his life although severely injured.
I loved the Jamie McMurray input in this. Bring two loves together in one. Knowledge of Tornados and NASCAR. Didn't know he did that though. That was definitely a wholesome moment
I never knew about Jamie's connection to Joplin... I got a little teary-eyed hearing about it.
I didn’t know either !! Did he just tour the town or did he donate and help ?
@leanneadams2549 he did both. He was working with convoy of hope
Only reasons I know of Joplin
Jamie McMurray and the 2011 Tornado
54:12 memer
This tornado has been covered so many times, but you've once again managed to dig for stories and impacts that no one has highlighted, and made it engaging, interesting, and emotionally moving. I appreciate all the work that went into this.
This shows that you cannot ignore warnings, it will come to haunt you in the future, hurricanes, typhoons, and tornadoes.
People can say that all they want, but when people get warning after warning where everything ends up fine, many are going to stop immediately heeding those warnings. That's just human nature. Especially in a society where we have warnings on everything. And while meteorologists do a pretty good job of trying to limit unnecessary warnings, there's only so much that can be done. Even with as much as forecasts have improved, most people under tornado warnings don't get hit by a tornado.
I live in Louisiana. My first near death hurricane was Betsy in New Orleans. Anywhere in this state can be dangerous because of hurricanes and severe storms, very high winds, bad lightning, and tornadoes can happen at any time and catch you off guard. Two hurricanes hit my region in 2020 and the power was out for nearly 3 weeks. The home I was in was badly damaged but was repaired.
Two tornadoes touched down near me in a 12 month period, both in December, one at 2am and another around 4pm, and I live in a camper. I could hear them both. Reed Timmer actually saw the one that was in the daytime and I was watching his livestream when he spotted it. The one that happened at 2am wasn`t storm warned until 2 minutes after I recognized what the roar to my southeast was. Thankfully it was in a swampy area near a lake and no structures or homes were damaged.
The only shelter I have is a very deep drainage ravine and a 10ft long 3ft diameter iron culvert under my driveway made decades ago by an oil company to support the weight of drilling equipment. The culvert and ravine is 130 feet away. But when lightning is bad, and it always is during these storms, it`s a huge risk to be outside and it always hits nearby. Several pine trees were hit and killed 25 feet from the culvert during the 2am tornado. At least I know lightning hit that general spot that night and now the group of trees are brown.
Where im at in Michigan, we get quite a few Warnings whether it's Tornado or severe thunderstorms. I get things ready in my basement but everyone else laughs at me. They always tell me were never gonna get a tornado, im like never say never.
@@baneverything5580those trees wouldn't be the only thing brown 😂
@@christinagowan8116no judgement here. Honestly, if I lived anywhere near tornadoes, I would just live in a basement bunker, no doubts about it. I'm so glad I live far, far away from that sorta stuff
Been chasing and studying storms for years now and the 2011 Joplin tornado is the only one that truly terrifies me. Something about it is just so ominous, even before the death toll was realized, something about this tornado was just... different. I still get chills when I see pictures of it. 2011 was a unreal year and I wouldn't be surprised if we never see another year like it.
Rest in peace to all those who were lost on that horrifying day.
We will, not now, not anytime soon, but it could be happening ina year or longer, we don't know, It's possible for a tornado like that to occur once again.
@@TheEqualativeScoAndSCR that's what's so terrifying, we really never know when. I just mean in terms of the scale and ferocity of the 2011 outbreak
You're very right on that, Luckily for me, I never had a tornado impact my home city or anything in the North of the US in decades.@@jaxenbond422
Idk... The EF5s and EF4s from the April super outbreak, some of the facts and photos and video of those are scary af. 😕
2011 was a year of exceptions for Tornadoes of all sorts it's honestly hard not to regard it with some measure of superstitious awe looking back as they raked their way across the southeast, I just found out recently a lot of people that survived the initial Joplin incident died horrible deaths weeks later due to contracting flesh-eating fungal infections from their thought to be minor debris wounds, the Joplin Tornado was just the malignant gift that kept on giving.
This led to many studies on the high death toll. It was called the cry wolf factor. There had been so many warnings in the years past, many people just no longer thought anything would happen. Sadly, by the time many people realized this time was the real thing, it was too late. I didn't take tornado warnings lightly before this, but I ABSOLUTELY wouldn't take them lightly after this. May all the victims rest in peace. 🙏
James Spann talked EXTENSIVELY about this here in Alabama after April 27, especially in regards to sirens. They need to be removed permanently. I live north of Huntsville (where the Phil Cambell-Hackelburg went through) and if you work in town in Huntsville, you hear the sirens test EVERY Wednesday, 52 weeks a year, not counting when they're actually activated for warnings. Years and decades of hearing them, you get complacent and used to it. EVEN NOW after April 27, Joplin, El Reno, Moore '13, people have gone RIGHT BACK to relying on sirens. People and businesses don't have weather radios, people don't put local weather apps on their phones to get polygon warnings, people are back to not taking these monsters seriously. They naively think, "Oh, what are the chances it'll hit MEEEE??" and brush early warnings away, even acute warnings. We're sadly WAAAY overdue for a major tornado here, nationally really. And here we go....look at Nebraska, Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas the last seven days! The NWS just confirmed an EF4 yesterday, Elkhorn had a MASSIVE 1mi+ (possibly much larger?) wedge, Lakeland had preliminary 260mph+ winds.... They're back 😔
The list of Ivan’s injuries is insane to hear but I’m glad you included it. When you hear the word “injured” I don’t think most people think about life changing injuries.
I went through Joplin a week after the tornado on my way to Dallas. I ended up staying for two weeks and volunteered for clean up and to help feed the thousands of people who had nowhere else to go. It was the hardest two weeks of my life as I listened to peoples stories.
Out of any tornado ive seen. Joplin will always be the most terrifying. Watching it go from a tiny rope to a city annihilating behemoth in under a minute still sends chills up my spine. Those poor people had no chance to react
the joplin mo tornado, was honestly something that almost brought me to tears as a teen, when i first saw the devastation on live tv.
plus 2011 was a very rough year for me mentally speaking, so to see that just broke my heart. the only reason why i even watched the weather was because i still had a major interest in weather as a teen, along with a few other interests, such as game development and medicine.
as a 29 year old man now, it fascinates me today. and at one point, joplin was on my list of places to move to, just to get out of tennessee.
however, weather isn't in my top interests, its still a interest, as mother earth truly fascinates me and makes me fear her as well. its a love/hate relationship kinda today, partially due to one close call a few years back.
and probably will be a love/hate relationship, till i get a nice custom built home i can feel safe in.
however.. im definitely not gonna sit on my ass all day. if severe weather hits, i do want to save some lives in the process, im only human after all. i may fear tornadoes but i'd love to observe them from a distance, and report to proper authorities in the process.
so hopefully the webinar tomorrow (as of the date of writing this comment) by NWS norman helps me get a good idea of how to spot storms, and stuff like that.
I'm 29 and about to turn 30 next month. 2011 was also a very hard year for me. There was something about 2011 in how much uneasiness the entire year felt. The number of disasters that occurred this year was also tragic and unprecedented.
@@dannyllerenatv8635yea i guess that year was rough on everyone. i may have been 17 but shit, i was just burnt out of school honestly, like there was one morning i woke up, and it seemed like i just wanted to quit everything, and just play video games.
but my dad helped me pull through.
and on top of it, the disasters and stuff.. it really puts life into perspective just from looking at that year with hindsight, nearly 13 years later.
I remember my grandparents donating what they have to joplin, all the way from mountain home Arkansas. I miss my grandparents so much...
I watched the clean up after Hurricane Katrina on the MS coast. They had 6 locations that burned debris constantly for a month. I got a strange cough after Katrina they called Katrina cough. It was from a fungus, mold and inhaling insulation. I know many from Mississippi went to Joplin to help out.
This is the first time I’ve almost cried listening to a video you make. When you spoke about Will Norton and how he graduated and got acceptance into film school and then died after in 2 seconds I felt choked up. It really breaks your heart listening to that, as someone who is his age and is still working on graduating right now so I can become an engineer to hopefully build houses that don’t break down and fail from violent storms of all types.
This was truly an emotional watch and hopefully one day I’ll make an impact for the better
your videos are really good and I look forward to seeing your channel grow because this stuff should frankly be more mainstream
I grew up in Paducah just across the border basically in Kentucky.
My parents and I went to bring relief supplies and it was beyond spooky where there was just lines through the trees
On May 31 of 1985, an F-5, (time before enhanced Fujita scale) hit way too close to my hometown in NE Ohio. I was living elsewhere at the time, in the area around our National Capitol, in Northern Virginia. A friend of mine from back in Ohio was in Virginia visiting me that weekend.
So, that Friday afternoon, we went out to dinner, then we went out for a few drinks. We got back to my apartment after midnight, and turned on the TV news, just out of habit.
On the screen, there was aerial footage being shown, depicting horrible destruction. I just thought to myself, oh, probably Beirut. (Terrible battles in and around Lebanon around that era.) However, then I heard the reporter saying, "this is the view from Niles, Ohio, following a devastating tornado."
Needless to say, she and I began *freaking out*, trying desperately to call our parents to make sure they were okay. I guess lines were down, plus, so many people were trying to contact loved ones, that we were unable to get through till around 2 or 3 AM. Thankfully, the tornado had touched down a bit north of where our parent's homes were, and everybody was okay.
But, later that summer, I went back to Ohio to attend a family reunion. My mom & I drove up to the airport, very close to where the tornado had hit, to pick up family members. I saw all these lines of trees down, and asked if they were doing construction for new housing or some such. My mom said, no. That's the path of the tornado!! 😱😱
This was in August, and it looked still as though the tornado had just gone through moments ago. These huge, old, solidly anchored trees lying down like pickup sticks.
The destruction is just mind boggling. That tornado is still firmly entrenched in local lore, near 40 years later.
I was also living in Alabama on April 27, 2011. Thankfully, we lived in South Alabama, on the Gulf Coast near Mobile. We got horrible storms that day, but, nothing like Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, Cullman, Phil Campbell, or the other places up in the north of the state, where so many lost their lives. It was, however, beautiful to see how the people of our state came together, to help those who'd lost so much.
I remember I was in 1st grade in spring field MO maybe 45 minutes away and watched live we got hail and lightning but that was the worst of it
My dad and I took his van down there maybe a month after and I remember the clean up it looked like a bomb went off I didn’t really understand as a kid how much this shook up peoples lives
I went out to volunteer in Kentucky, went to all the devastated towns. The coverage of it will never do it justice. Seeing it in person is something I will never forget. Hearing the alarms going off for an entire week… I’ll never forget it. Towns just wiped clean off the map.
I had to pause the video a couple times in order to take a deep breath and not start crying. And I'm not a big cryer. Some of the stories from this storm are so utterly gut wrenching.
Excellent job; thanks for the shoutouts!
This tornado along with Moore 2013 influences me a lot due to my ties to Joplin (my father grew up in the Joplin area, and my grandmother lived there at the time the tornado hit - she lived…)
I'm a SW MO native and had the day off of work when this happened. I watched it all happen on our local weather that covered the Joplin area too. It was horrifying and heartbreaking and I remember being angry that the tornado wouldn't stop. You did a wonderful job with this video.
Hearing the deaths one by one as it's passing on the model just hits differently than just simply hearing the total amount after the fact.
Well done as usual! Your grandparents are so proud of you! ❤Ivan’s story was very upsetting 😢God bless him 🙏🏻people who are injured by tornadoes are often completely ignored or brushed over so I’m grateful to him for sharing his terrifying story of survival and explaining how severely injured he was. Praying for him. I know it was almost 13 years ago but I know he is probably still struggling with his injuries or the PTSD that he has to endure. I pray we don’t see a year like 2011 ever again. Also Convective Chronicles or Trey is an amazing channel for all things 🌪️ both current events and retrospective breakdowns of past tornado events. Excellent work as always ❤
I remember going to Joplin a week after with a volunteer group from in AZ, when we finally got there we drove into the city and it looked fine, until all of a sudden, everything was gone.... I remember seeing boats wrapped around trees, like they were a part of the tree... The devastation was incredible. I'm glad I was able to help for a week, working at a warehouse distributing food and water. Some people were trying to find joy in living, going around town I seen a rubble of house, someone put up a big piece of plywood, "YARD SALE, EVERYTHING FREE", it made me chuckle and laugh and cry at the same time.
I'm 23 and at age 10 I still remember watching Mike Bedis's coverage of the damage live. That image of the hospital is still burned into my memory.
I visited Joplin nearly 5 years ago. I checked out the park dedicated to the tornado, was nice to see
I cried while watching this video. I knew a lot about what happened in Joplin before watching it, but seeing the devastation to people's lives hit me so hard. In 5th grade, I read a book about what happened in Joplin. It ignited my interest in tornadoes, and now, looking back and seeing what this tornado has done to people, it devastates me.
I remember this tornado vividly, especially hearing stories about the destruction of the old hospital and the Pizza Hut, Walmart, Home Depot, & and the Rangeline Road area of the city district.. this thing was a monster in its own characteristic with the stage of the tornado being heavily rain wrapped and dark like it was midnight really fast
There's a video of a group on a storm chasing tour during this tornado. They were on the main road just minutes before it hit and obliterated everything behind them. You can hear their mood go from excitement when first see it, to fear and despair when they realize what just happened. Gives me chills every time I watch it.
I grew up in KC and was in high school when the tornado hit. Even two hours away, the possibility of that happening so close was terrifying. It led to an incredible amount of anxiety for me during any storm.
Fast forward to now where I’ve moved to Joplin. I just got here six months ago, right off of Connecticut in the path of where the tornado hit. You can see the scars where they rebuilt it. In the oddly placed new buildings next to dated ones.
They’ve done an amazing job creating new spaces out of the devastation. And the city itself is slowly growing with younger people because the cost of living is low here and many people are working remotely.
But moving down here was hard for me. I was (and still am) terrified of tornadoes and am uneasy living in the path of where the tornado hit.
Thank you for your video. It’s comforting to understand why things happened the way they did and how it happened. Getting the full picture alleviates the anxiety a bit knowing what led to the disaster.
Lost my grandmother n the joplin tornado. Live and work around joplin still. Edit she was in greenbrier nursing home.
I'm so sorry for your loss
I was there to visit my grandpa cause he worked for FEMA, and was helping the clean up operation. Even though I was young, I still remember the stripped bark off trees, and the piles of rubble around the many concrete foundations while I was walking around with my family and grandpa.
Will Norton has such an ironic story in a weird way. He made a video about almost dying from severe weather on his RUclips channel and that’s the way he went out. I’ve known about his story for years but it just hit me now that he had a fear over severe weather, he talked about it being one of the scariest days of his life. It’s almost like he’s describing the day he passed away if you get what I mean. It’s just weird like how rappers make a music video about their own funerals and end up passing away after
When I was going thru school, I remember hearing about Joplin more than say Moore which was also an EF5. It was so heartbreaking seeing the damage on the news. Thank you for this VERY well put together & respectful analysis and touching on everything and anything important. Amazing piece as always !
Thanks for your video. I was at work on the southeast side of Joplin in a production plant. We sheltered until the all clear. I left at 6:30 pm. My wife couldn't reach me since we lived in the north side of Joplin. I walked through the damage on 20th street near Dillons.
I remember going to help with some of the relief efforts after this tornado. I was only 13, so I truly don't think it was all hitting me, just how truly devastating all of this was. But, I do remember entire blocks being leveled. One block would be nearly untouched, and the next block over houses were gone down to the foundation. I remember cleaning up a field of debris miles from where the tornado's path actually was. Hearing accounts from the locals about what happened was insane
did you see any bodies?
I don't know how you do these videos. You handle them so well, with superb attention to detail. I fight tears in nearly every video. You emphasize the humanity surrounding these terrible events.
Well done, sir. You're a stronger man than I am in some ways.
i drove through joplin with my parents back in july 2022. we were there for barely even an hour since we were driving back from a funeral in arkansas. it really felt eerie to be there since i've read books on the tornado and since a tornado had actually just caused massive damage just to the east of where i live, but i wasn't really paying attention very well to it.
i will say though, if you get a chance to go to joplin, go to chick fil a. the employees there are very nice
My favorite way to spend Valentines Day
Ouch. Ivan's description of his injuries hurts me to hear. He is lucky that he was unconscious during the time he was receiving all of those broken bones. I guess getting knocked unconscious first was kind of a blessing.
Its amazing how the steel cross remained intact.
Rip William Richard Norton 😢😢
I remember watching this stuff unfold on weather channel, my grandpa looked at me and said, be ready. He had a sad look on his face for them. Luckily it didnt get bad across the Mississippi River for us.
I’m an Alabama native and I remember this hitting the news. We were in the midst of the devastation from April 27th and this news shocked us. So much sympathy for the people in Joplin as we knew what they were dealing with firsthand. None of us will ever forget where we were and all we saw in 2011. I moved to Florida in 2017 and have now had to deal with hurricanes …. Worst in my area was Irma so far. But I’ll tell you that I much prefer this to enduring more tornadoes like those in 2011. The damage they can inflict in mere minutes is hard to comprehend until you’ve seen it yourself.
My family drove through Joplin when I was a kid after the tornado went through it was breathtakingly horrific I still remember it to this day.
Thank you for the great video. I always love to watch anything on Tornadoes.. when I lost faith in humanity.. seeing them come together helping each other is always uplifting to watch. I appreciate all of the hard work put into these videos and it always entertains.
Crazy I'm from Southern Illinois but I just happen to be in Joplin. Just got back to my room after working on the Menards they are building
Sit down fire up RUclips and this was the first recommendation!
Imagine falling asleep on the couch, and then waking up somewhere else, outside with most of your bones broken.
I’ve watched so many compilations of videos from Joplin and the one that always gives me chills was the people inside of the gas station cooler.
I was visiting a friend the Saturday before it hit. I left Sunday morning and went back home , watched it hit on my television, i had no contact from my friend for a few days. She lived by the Walmart and Lowe's stores ,her home was destroyed but she and her son made out with no injuries . It was the worst destruction I've ever seen. I have seen plenty of damage from hurricanes when i lived in South Louisiana nothing compared to Joplin. God bless all of the survivors,
Not even Ida holds a candle to this.
the old man's story was absolutely brutal. imagine hearing a voice and desperately digging to save its owner, only to find a crude imitation of a person, and right next to it a dead real person.
I used to live in Joplin and went to highschool there back in the late 90s. We moved to Texas but found out the house we lived in was flatten by this tornado. Very spooky indeed . I lost contact with friends there and hope they all made it through.
I am from Baxter springs Kansas, the storms merged right over our town, will never forget that day as long as I live, I’ve never seen the sky like jt was
I missed this tornado by about 20 minutes. I was travelling from Ft. Smith back to Wyoming and man was that weather crazy. I passed through Joplin and at a gas station not too far, we heard about the city getting destroyed.
Not only did this thing happen on my birthday when I was 17, I drove through a year later. There were still trees there that were entirely stripped of their bark. Brand new buildings next to repaired/still damaged buildings. It was haunting.
I was sick at home in Fortuna, Missouri (about 3 hours northeast of Joplin) when this was happening, while my siblings were just getting home about an hour before it touched down. They had bus riders stay and take cover as we got hit by the northern parts of the storm. I remember listening as everything got worse and worse until we eventually lost power and went into our parents’ bedroom to wait it out. I was too young to really understand the severity of what had happened. It breaks my heart every time I hear someone’s story about the Joplin tornado, because I know that if the storm had changed direction it very well could have been me 💔
May 22, 2011 was a Sunday. So what were you home sick from? And what bus riders?
@@darthdemented The storm went all night and into the next day for us. We were northeast by quite a bit so it didn’t get bad until around the time they let us out from school (it was our last week). My siblings were gone all weekend and were just getting home with my mom about an hour before Joplin was hit. I was home sick over the weekend and all day Monday so I got to see the different spurts before our big storm. I apologize I do see the confusion there, and I hope this makes more sense 😅
You did a really great job on this. Thank you for the in-depth, I knew there'd been a bad tornado there but not the extent of it. 😢
The scary thing for Ivan is that he probably did not sleep through the storm. The shock of his injuries and the concussion caused him to forget what happened. A friend of mine had a bad motorcycle accident and she could not remember anything that happened, just was riding one minute and in the hospital the next
I do don't live in Joplin but remember watching coverage of it on the weather Channel from my hometown of Rapid City SD
Kinda late but awesome video, but when I saw how the Joplin tornado form when small sub-vortices form into this massive and deadly multi-vortex/wedge tornado in a few seconds is really horrifying.
congrats to median for getting his icons used here, his animations are sooo underrated it’s wild
omg hi silas
@@Astervius omg it’s the famous tornado animator!!!!
@@sillysilas2024 omg it's the famous deer!!!!
@@Astervius omg I’m not a deer!!!!!
2011 as a whole, so many iconic and deviating tornados, two days later after Joplin you had another ef5, great video as always
montana also got 164 inches of snow...... then a years worth of rain in march 2012 (or was the snow in 2010, and the rain in march 2011? idk, it was 2011 however)
the rain melted all the snow.... causing MASSIVE!!! flooding
The first half of 2011 was wild, including this tornado, the 2011 Super Outbreak, and the massive earthquake and tsunami that rocked Japan and killed thousands.
Then after that a EF3 tornado in Springfield MA a month later(June 1 2011)
Wouldn’t use the word iconic
@@MrAjking808 well 2011 had many iconic tornados? Granted nothing about it being iconic was positive, infamous is probably a better word bit still
Wow! Well worth the wait. You've crafted an excellent comprehensive presentation of this momentous tragedy. Not only have you given us an understandable explanation of the meteorology and a granular look at the destruction, but you've managed to convey the lasting emotional effects on survivors and people intimately connected to Joplin as well as to the meteorologists. Thanks!
Finally, a tornado within my home state gets covered and I get to understand why a fear and untapped interest took up my psyche until 2015
Something about the Joplin tornado fascinates me, the sheer power of this storm was spectacular. What I took from this storm was always heed warnings and watches. As a fellow Missouri resident, we get a lot of watches and warnings, we’re in tornado valley after all. However, I think Joplin is a great example of paying attention to those warnings, all while coming together to rebuild.
I'm from Joplin, I was only about a mile away from when it hit St. Johns Hospital. One of the scariest days of my life.
I lived in Joplin my entire life and I was 2 years old when it hit. Nowadays Joplin has improved heavily adding new restaurants, stores, etc. I loved watching every second of this documentary and educating everyone about never forgetting about this.❤
I actually live only a few towns over from Joplin, and I was born in St John’s hospital a few months before this all went down. I never really got to see the damage as I was too young, but just being a tad related to all of by being someone who commonly goes to Joplin and was born there is kind of cool.
I remember hearing about the Joplin Tornado on local news at first I though it destroyed a major town and not a city! I only watched a few videos on youtube and was probably the fastest violent tornado to have formed!
I hadn't yet graps how bad the 2011 Tornado Season was. But did know 2011 was pretty bad year for natural disaster!
I lost a family member that day. As a lifelong resident of Kansas, we had become somewhat uninterested in the watches and warnings. We learned 161 hard lessons that day. I live in a tiny town north of Joplin and everyone in our community helped out anyway we could. Thank you for covering the Human aspect of this weather tragedy ❤
Man, I was just a kid when this happened but up in Canada, we remember it clear as day. It was all over the news, every channel, breaking news covering the damage, like it was a Terrorist Attack. I was young at the time, so I didn't understand it, but I can barely remember the shock and speechlessness of the people around me. In Ontario, Tornadoes are a rarity, but we are familiar with them. We only get maybe 10 a year. But, seeing Joplin on the news was something else. The most raw and pure definition of "Absolute Carnage".
When you hear "Monster Tornado", you think of the Joplin Storm. It was invisible killer that sucker-punched the town when they didn't belive it was there until it was too late. Glad to see it's recovered and rebuilt, mostly. Fun Fact, Joplin is the only other town I'm familiar with, alongside Moore, that have "Driveways to nowhere". It's a high population of empty plots of land in residential areas where the strong Tornadoes have leveled homes, and people just left and didn't rebuild, leaving only their driveway behind.
I was a kid when Joplin was hit, I lived in a small town about 30 minutes away- and the only thing my Paramedic dad sent to my mom when he arrived to help like so many other nearby towns/counties were the words 'dear God'. I have an uncle who is probably only alive today because he stayed late at work in the Pepsi plant outside of town he worked at at the time. This was a MONSTER of nature
Really well put together video. This tornado is so important to remember as seeing an EF5 plow through a city is absolutely awful. I remember watching the weather channel and seeing Mike Bettes on air. That was so raw.
31:00 I can't imagine watching TV, falling asleep while watching TV, and then waking up to a random person asking if you are ok with everything being obiterated around you. Absolutly raw and so glad Ivan survived.
I survived Joplin. My house got obliterated, and man do I still have scars. Mental AND physical scars. I had lost my mother and I’m lucky to even still be alive. And to think I was only 12 at the time
Great stuff. Dr. Timmer likes to say, "Never stop chasing." May you never stop analyzing.
Wonderful video! :D Love it just as much as always!
Edit: I especially love how you interview people who experienced what you're talking about, very cool.
There’s one thing that me and my co worker talked about the other day, I live near the webberville area and we had a high end EF2 a few months back, but it’s believed to have been 2 of them and it was a nocturnal tornado, I still have the video of when it touched down near my apartment, it was super scary and we didn’t get power back for a week.. the cleanup is still not finished.
i'm from missouri (not joplin but close) i wasn't too old at the time of the tornado but i remember my parents being really torn up about it
both of them had survived hurricane katrina and it was that all over again for them. my dad especially because he grew up in new orleans and now another generation had to go through what he had
Its a sobering grim reminder just how devastating nature can get.
When an EF5 is going to basically hit your area directly adjacent to its center, with winds hitting 300MPH+...theres really not a whole hell of a lot you can physically do but hope and pray where your at holds together long enough for you to survive.
That bit with the Pizza hut...those two tried so hard to save everyone present among them...
300 mph? Where you get that from. Joplin had maximum winds of 250 mph.
Youre right @@dingbat19
Love the tornado vids, keep it up! Any plans for a greensburg kansas tornado video anytime soon?
Got here late, but always makes my day to see a post from my fav weather youtuber!
I lived near Joplin around the time it happened.
I remember distinctly having to visit my cousin for about 2 weeks after.
He’d been thrown from his vehicle and had to go to the hospital.
A raging infection kept fighting him for his life.
He was only 6 then.
And yet, although by a miracle? He pulled through.
He’s now a proud dad.
I might check in on him, it’s been a long time since I’d heard from him.
Last I saw him was at a family reunion years ago.
No mentions of the Butterfly People? 😱
Jokes aside, another great tornado documentary from Alferia!
This was one of those worst-case scenarios. An alarm-weary population and a tornado that forms right on the edge of a city and rapidly intensifies into EF4/EF5 strength as it impacts dense neighborhoods and busy commercial districts.
Ive been to joplin the other day and its amazing how much was rebuilt, you can still see some areas that weren't rebuilt but mainly everything is rebuilt. The area has lots of cool places and history. Edit: whoops I forgot you mentioned the may 5th tornado.
Florida's deadliest tornado outbreak hit over night in February. I'd love to see you do a video on it. You do such a good job! Celton Anderson is the only storm documentary I can find on it. The rest are just short news clips. I survived this with the tornado barely missing my home. Love to help if you decided to do a video on it.
The actual reason why Mike Bettis got all choked up when he was reporting about the tornadoes in Tuscaloosa and Birmingham is that he saw a dead body that was completely mangled.... and it's actually in the video footage that you put in this video presentation. If you look close, you'll be able to see it, but the cameraman moves quickly away from that area when he saw it. 😢😮😢 R.I.P. to all of the people that passed away on that horrible day in May 2011. ❤❤❤❤
I grew up in Duquesne, graduated Joplin High. My entire family still lives there. This was so devistating. I have seen many videos, but really appreciate this video. Alot of information, and not just that day itself.
As a NASCAR fan starting to get into weather, I did NOT expect Jamie McMurray to appear in this video.
Perfect way to spend valentines. Thank you so much for your amazing content ❤
Another gem. Kudos, Alfie
my family went to a wedding in Joplin a day or two before the tornado. By some miracle we left before the tornado and then got home after the North Minneapolis tornada almost tore it up as well(I live 3.5 miles from the Anoka county airport). Everyone who went to the wedding thankfully had left town already when the tornado hit.
It's ok my guy we know you're busy with school. Thanks for showing us some love by giving us your unique perspective of of the Joplin tornado. Good luck with mid terms!
I never knew Jamie did that, huge nascar fan and I’ve always really liked Jamie, now that I know this, he might just be the greatest driver of all time