A huge Tornado passed close to Overland Park on Sunday night, shaking our home as the sirens sounded. I heard this morning that this Tornado hit hard the southern Missouri city of Joplin, causing massive devastation. I know Joplin, having passed through it on one of my route 66 trips made a few years ago. I have considered driving down there today, but it is not possible because I need to prepare for my trip to NYC early tomorrow morning. Here are a few of the images I made in and around Joplin on that trip. My thoughts go out to the people of Joplin in this desperate time.
"A massive tornado that tore through the southwest Missouri city of Joplin killed at least 89 people, but authorities warned that the death toll could climb Monday as search and rescuers continued their work at sunrise.
City manager Mark Rohr announced the number of known dead at a pre-dawn news conference outside the wreckage of a hospital that took a direct hit from Sunday's storm. Rohr said the twister cut a path nearly six miles long and more than a half-mile wide through the center of town, adding that tornado sirens gave residents about a 20-minute warning before the tornado touched down on the city's west side.
Much of the city's south side was leveled, with churches, schools, businesses and homes reduced to ruins.
Fire chief Mitch Randles estimated that 25 to 30 percent of the city was damaged, and said his own home was among the buildings destroyed as the twister swept through this city of about 50,000 people some 160 miles south of Kansas City."
Report from KCTV5's news website:
http://www.kctv5.com/news/27984786/detail.html
Video of the storm can be viewed here:
Simon, not to skip over your powerful eye and images but the clips you provided of the storm's damage are astounding.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the worst storm disasters in my recent memory.
Lovely selection of images.
ReplyDelete