![]() ![]() Kerry Sachetta, the high school principal, led those individuals into the basement. When the tornado hit, around 150 people were still in the arena, and Dr. ![]() The ceremony was held off campus, at Missouri Southern State University. The destruction of Joplin High School took place just minutes after a graduation ceremony for seniors. In addition to the hospital, their report contains a list of other major buildings damaged or destroyed, including, "several churches, elementary schools, high school, vocational school, two fire stations, a Walmart, Home Depot, large construction company with heavy equipment, nursing home, banks, a Dillon’s and other grocery stores, several gas station/convenient stores, Cummins generator building, electric power company sub-station, major cell and power transmission towers, and numerous one, two and three level apartment buildings." Their report describes steel trusses "rolled up like paper, and concrete walls toppled." One week after the storm, the National Weather Service estimated that 6,954 homes had been completely destroyed, while 359 homes suffered major damage. Later, there would be reports that the entire hospital had been moved four inches off its foundation. Because there were concerns that the structure might collapse, once the tornado passed, the building was evacuated. Doctors and nurses had only minutes to pull patients from their rooms and into hallways before the storm struck, and six people died. Every window in the building was blown out, and the top two floors were ripped from the structure. The hospital took a direct hit from the tornado. That night, there were 183 patients at St. In parking lots, concrete barriers designed to stop cars, each of them weighing 200-300 pounds and re-barred into asphalt, had been plucked into the air and tossed as far as 60 yards. ![]() A team from the National Weather Service found vehicles that had been rolled into balls of bent metal and broken glass by the force of the storm. More than 15,000 vehicles, including heavy buses and tractor trailers, were picked up and carried by the winds-some for hundreds of yards. As the storm moved through Joplin, it gained strength. At its widest point, the path of the tornado stretched a full mile. It first touched down in the southern part of the city, near the intersection of JJ Highway and West 32 Street, and tracked eastward, causing damage for 13 miles. It began at 5:41 PM local time and lasted for 32 minutes. The tornado that hit Joplin, Missouri on was an EF5. At the other end of the scale, an EF5 tornado has the strength to tear buildings from their foundations and carry the debris through the air. At the bottom end of the scale, an EF0 tornado might bring down tree limbs. After a storm, meteorologists, weather researchers, and civil engineers will examine the field of damage and make a determination about where a particular tornado falls along a metric called the Enhanced Fujita Scale. Tornadoes are measured by the strength of the wind they produce. ![]()
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