Joplin, Missouri after the Tornado

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A tornado struck Joplin, Missouri on May 22, 2011 at around 5:40 pm. With a population around 50,559, it killed 161 people and injured approximately 1,100 people. The cost was an estimated $2.8 billion in damage. The American taxpayers had to give about $500 million in recovery money. This made it the deadliest tornado since 1950, which was when modern recordkeeping began. Since it was an EF5 tornado, it destroyed everything in its path. The city was ruined with only piles of debris left. It was a half-mile wide when it hit Joplin and grew to three-quarters of a mile wide. It destroyed nearly 7,000 homes in Joplin and damaged hundreds more. It covered over 1,800 acres of land. The warnings that the Joplin residents received were through three different ways. The tornado warning that was sent out for Joplin’s county was from Jasper County Emergency Operations Center (JCEOC) and they claim that the first siren went off at 5:11 pm. Two other warnings for the Joplin residents was they saw the tornado heading their direction, and the media coverage which was all local electronic media switched to wall-to-wall coverage seeing live footage of the tornado.
The reasons why there was such a high number of fatalities was because of the magnitude of the tornado, its path through a heavily populated area, the people having a desensitized attitude toward the tornado warnings, the lack of safety facilities, and the mistake by the National Weather Service. First, the magnitude was just so large that it wiped out everything in its path. EF5 tornados winds exceed 200 mph which are deadly. Second, Joplin has thousands of residents and could have killed many people. Third, the people did not react to the first siren that went off because they were ...

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...uilt inside of the house and safe rooms in the ground. These are just made up of steel or concrete and it gives them a better chance at surviving these deadly tornados. FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) gives grants to some states to build one. They give around $3,000 to $5,000 in funds to build these so everyone can go to safety in the convenience of their home. Overall, the Joplin has been greatly affected from this massive tornado. There were some warnings that were sent out but there were issues, however, many changes today have been made because of that tornado such as adding safe rooms to the homes in Joplin. Also, the recovery in the area has changed the city because of the thousands of individuals that helped. From all these factors it has changed Joplin and the tornado that touched down on May 22, 2011 is one of the largest in recorded U.S. history

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