They lived in a small travel trailer on their old lot through the winter months as they waited for a new home to be built. Joplin is the main hub of the three-county Joplin-Miami, Missouri-Oklahoma Metro area, which is home to 210,077 people making it the 5th largest metropolitan area in Missouri. Living off Social Security, disability, and unemployment checks, the couple was unable to buy a new lot until a local charity stepped in. (Watch: "The Oklahoma Tornado From Space") But city rezoning rules, meant to safeguard against future extreme weather events, halted construction. (Read: "5 Tornado Myths Busted")Īll the insurance money that Steve and Pat Hammonds (above) received after the Joplin tornado went toward a contract for a new home to be constructed on their existing housing lot. It was the seventh deadliest tornado in United States history, claiming 162 lives. The insurance payouts were expected to top $2.2 billion, the largest in Missouri history. Missouri Tornado Statistics From 1950-2016 Annual average number of tornadoes: 32 Total number of fatalities: 394 Annual average fatalities: 4 Record for. 'Were still the worst tornado disaster in the last 60 years,' said Jane Cage, a Joplin. The Joplin tornado destroyed nearly a third of the town, affecting roughly 8,000 structures, including homes, churches, schools, and businesses. The people of Joplin came together after the tornado to lift each other up and rebuild. The tornado that devastated Joplin carved a path of destruction a mile wide and 22 miles long and, like the twister that struck Moore, was an EF-5, the most powerful classification for such storms. ![]() (Related: "Your Pictures of Oklahoma Tornado") That's likely to be the case in Moore, Oklahoma, the area hardest hit by the tornado, which claimed at least 24 lives. In Joplin, where I photographed the tornado's aftermath, the road to rebuilding was rife with obstacles, heartache, and daily reminders of what was lost. And the rebuilding process is long and painful. 2011 was the fourth deadliest tornado year in U.S. Any sense of normalcy is lost in the blink of an eye. The Joplin tornado is the deadliest since modern record keeping began in 1950 and is ranked 7th among the deadliest tornadoes in U.S. ![]() The destruction is swift and unequivocal. ![]() Whenever a tornado devastates a community, there are certain common experiences. The Monday tornado that leveled a 20-mile stretch south of Oklahoma City, with winds exceeding 200 miles per hour, brings back harrowing memories of the deadly tornado that ripped apart Joplin, Missouri, exactly two years ago Wednesday.
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