NOAA photo of tornado damage to St. John's Mercy Hospital in Joplin

The heart of Joplin Missouri was, in many respects, St. John’s Mercy Hospital. The city’s residents were born there, healed there and often spent their final days there. On May 22, 2011, an F5 tornado tore its way through downtown Joplin and left the hospital in ruins. That ended an era but yesterday a new era was begun with the groundbreaking ceremony for a new Mercy Hospital Joplin.

NOAA photo of damage to St. John's Mercy Hospital in Joplin after the tornado.

The entire St. John’s campus will be leveled as the work begins on a new hospital on donated land at the intersection of I44 and Main Street. A farewell service was held in Joplin on Sunday for the old hospital and a groundbreaking ceremony for the new one.

St. John’s Mercy sits over abandoned lead mines that date to the mid 1800′s. Engineers were uncertain if a controlled demolition would be safe so the site will be cleared using conventional methods. During the six weeks of demolition, as much of the existing structure as possible will be salvaged. The buildings will be stripped of wiring and pipes that will go to the scrap yard. The concrete and asphalt will be ground up and used for fill on the site.

Science will also be served during the demolition. Some parts of the building will be sent to various labs for study of the effects of the tornado on the building and its components.

The hospital has donated about 12 acres of the old site to the Joplin schools. An elementary school will be built there to replace two schools destroyed by the tornado.

At the new site, an innovative project is rescuing about 400 trees from the bulldozers. The site was scoured by certified arborists for the best saplings. They were tagged and have been transplanted to a local nursery where they will be cared for. In 2014, in preparation for the opening of the new Mercy Hospital Joplin, they will be replanted as part of the final landscaping. The trees selected are the ones best suited for Joplin’s climate and soil.

The FEMA blog describes the recovery efforts in Joplin.

• 1.2 million cubic yards of debris removed
• 3,600 building permits issued
• 167 temporary classrooms and 67 temporary safe rooms
• 337 families in temporary housing
• 50 percent of the homes destroyed are being rebuilt
• 90 percent of the businesses damaged have reopened

The National Weather Service has released a report titled Joplin, Missouri, Tornado – May 22, 2011.

The tornado was rated EF-5 on the Enhanced-Fujita Scale, with its maximum winds estimated at more than 200 mph. The path of the entire tornado was 22.1 miles long and was up to 1 mile in width. The EF-4/EF-5 damage path was roughly 6 miles long from near Schifferdecker Avenue along the western portions of Joplin to near Interstate 44 east of Joplin, and generally ½ to ¾ of a mile wide along the path. NOAA map.

Patrick Trier, Army Corps of Engineers, supervises debris removal in Joplin, Mo. after the May 22 tornado. Photo by Nancy K. Lane-Missouri National Guard

The streets have been cleared. The debris are being cleaned up. The losses have been counted. Two weeks after an EF5 tornado ripped through the heart of their city, the people of Joplin, Missouri look to the future.

Debris removal begins in Joplin, Mo. after the May 22 tornado. Photo by Nancy K. Lane-Missouri National Guard

141 people are reported to have died as a result of the tornado. 100 remain in the Red Cross shelter at Missouri Southern University. 32 Missouri State Police officers remain in the city assisting the Jasper County Sheriff and the Joplin police.

Missouri Gas Energy reports that it continues to cap natural gas lines in the remain 16 grids of the original 40. Empire Electric reports that every customer who can be restored, has been. They have an additional 7,000 plus outages that cannot be repaired at this time.

Up to date information on the Joplin tornado can be found at:

• City of Joplin Website
• Jasper County Website
• Missouri State Emergency Management Agency situation reports
• Federal Emergency Management Agency situation reports
• State of Missouri response website

Staff Sgt. Neville Shiwdin looks over his family's home in Joplin, Mo. May 23 after it's destruction by a tornado the night before. Photo by Cpl. David Rogers

Staff Sgt. Neville Shiwdin struggled to hold closed the door to the closet in which he, his wife and kids took shelter inside his home as a tornado ripped through Joplin, Mo. May 22.

It was supposed to be a typical Sunday evening dinner. As a busy recruiter for Recruiting Substation Joplin, Recruiting Station Kansas City, Shiwdin always used Sunday night as a family night to eat dinner with his wife and kids. The table was set. But on the radio, they heard the storm was coming. Shiwdin helped his kids empty the closet on the bottom floor in the center of the house.

“No sooner than I shut the door, the windows went and all hell broke loose.” Shiwdin said.

Just as he shut the door, he heard the windows shatter and it was like a vacuum sucked all the air out. The storm ripped a hole in the second floor ceiling above them. He heard the sounds of wood cracking as trees outside were ripped from the ground.

“I was holding on to that door for dear life,” he said.

He’s not sure how long they were in there, he lost track of time. After the turbulence was over, he scavenged for water and blankets throughout his home. It was still standing. The hole in the roof and the shattered windows allowed a lot of debris and water to fill the home, but it hadn’t collapsed. And dinner still stood undisturbed on the table.

“I’m not a very religious man but there had to be something protecting me,” Shiwdin said. “Because when I stepped outside and looked at the rest of the neighborhood, that’s all I could think about. And then I set out to do what Marines do; help out wherever I could.”

The first thing he heard was a lady screaming outside and a couple of explosions from gas lines. The woman went to a store and left her kids alone at home when the tornado struck. She was lost. She couldn’t find her house anymore. The streets were unrecognizable. The piles of rubble on every block looked the same. Shiwdin knew her street was a couple of blocks away. But when they got there, the house was gone.

“This lady was hysterical,” Shiwdin said. “She was trying to jump in there and start clawing at… there was just nothing there. We had to hold her back. There was nothing we could do.”

He continued to move through his neighborhood trying to help people. He heard a child screaming for help from another decimated house. He and many of his neighbors who he had never met before began pulling the child out of the rubble. The boy complained of pain in his leg, then they saw the bone sticking out of the flesh of his knee. They stopped. They realized they had to be more careful. An ambulance showed up. It was full, but the child had priority. The ambulance removed another victim to make room for him.

Shiwdin was worried about the many elderly he knew lived in his neighborhood. He found out one man next door was having a heart attack, but the man’s family car was trapped under a tree. Shiwdin had a van that would still run. He kicked out what was left of the shattered windows and gave them the vehicle. He found his other SUV in bad condition but with a running engine and used it to take more people to a triage center a couple of blocks away.

Fifteen blocks away, Staff Sgt. Kenneth Thorson, a fellow recruiter at the RSS, received a text from Shiwdin that his house was severely damaged. Thorson’s family didn’t take shelter as their home wasn’t disturbed by the storm. He tried to call back but Shiwdin wasn’t answering. The cellular network wasn’t transmitting calls very well. So, Thorson and his wife got in their Jeep and took off to find Shiwdin and his family.

“He’s my brother,” Thorson said. “I went out there to get him. It was horrible. There were people everywhere. People that needed help but I couldn’t stop because I wanted to make sure (Shiwdin) and his family were taken care of. There were bodies on the side of the road. There were people screaming and yelling and walking down the street with broken arms and broken legs.”

Thorson finally arrived at Shiwdin’s home.

“He was looking out the window,” Thorson said. “We kind of laughed about it for a second. I don’t know, it was kind of one of those weird moments.”

They quickly packed up the Jeep and Shiwdin’s SUV and left. They heard another tornado might be on the way, but the trip was taking its toll on Thorson’s Jeep. Not long after they started the trip back to Thorson’s home, the debris they were driving over had shredded one of his tires. They stopped and changed it but two other tires were punctured and quickly losing air. They managed to make it to Thorson’s home before the tires went completely flat.

The next day, the Marines of the RSS recovered anything vital from Shiwdin’s home and began helping others in their community. They went to several triage centers including the one at Missouri Southern State University. They directed traffic and organized supplies. Other Marines from Recruiting Station Kansas City arrived and helped patch the roof on another Marine recruiter’s home.

Shiwdin received calls from Marines across the country. One of his former units is sending him a care package. He’s also looking at renting a home in Thorson’s neighborhood for his family. He’s continues without fear that the support of his fellow Marines will help his family recover.

United States Marine Corps
By Cpl. David Rogers , 9th Marine Corps District

Pvt. First Class Jesus Ramos, 1139th Military Police Co., Missouri Army National Guard, directs traffic at a storm-damaged intersection near St. John’s Mercy Hospital here on Tuesday. Ramos, from Harrisonville, Mo., is part of a Guard contingent mobilized to assist local law enforcement with traffic control and other duties in the wake of Sunday’s devastating storm that left more than 116 people dead. Ramos said he just completed 2 weeks of state emergency flood duty in Mississippi County before being transferred here to assist with rescue and recovery efforts. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Jon E. Dougherty, 70th Mobile Public Affairs Det.

Five days after an EF5 tornado carved a swath of destruction through the heart of Joplin, Missouri, the city continues to dig out and plan its recovery. Two sweeps through the affected area have been completed by search and rescue teams using cadaver dogs. Five areas have been identified for further investigation. 126 deaths are currently being reported, with 6,800 homes destroyed.

The list of the missing hovers around 250 names at this time but many of these people appear to have just been out of contact. Media reporters were able to locate several of them easily when they investigated the list. Joplin officials have repeatedly asked residents to contact authorities and verify their safety. Update: 156 missing on list, 90 found.

FEMA Situation Report for May 27
State of Missouri Situation Report for 5 pm on May 26

Restoration of utilities continues. Empire Electric is reporting that 8-10,000 sites that may be without electric for some weeks. They have already replaced over 1,000 poles. The natural gas company, MGE, is working on a grid format in Joplin, ensuring that supply lines are capped while clearing and recovery operations are conducted. Of 40 grid squares, less than 16 remain to be made safe.

EMS command was closed on Thursday, May 26. St. John’s Hospital remains badly damaged and open to a limited number of seriously ill patients at this time. The hospital will open a mobile hospital on Saturday, May 28.

• City of Joplin on Facebook
• Missouri National Guard on Facebook
• State of Missouri Joplin tornado website
• Joplin, MO Tornado Recovery on Facebook

The National Weather Service has upgraded its rating of the tornado that tore through the center of Joplin Missouri just after 5 pm on Sunday. The storm, with winds in excess of 200 mph, has been rated an EF5.

The latest toll for the monster twister is 122 deaths, 1,500 plus injured, and hundreds still unaccounted for. The six mile path through the city of Joplin varied from one half to three quarters of a mile wide.

Click on map to go to a larger view at Japer County's site

217 Missouri National Guard soldiers are supporting the local and state efforts according to the 1 pm state situation report. Utilities are slowly being restored to areas not directly affected by the tornado. Cellular service remains spotty.

Pvt. First Class Jesus Ramos, 1139th Military Police Co., Missouri Army National Guard, directs traffic at a storm-damaged intersection near St. John’s Mercy Hospital here on Tuesday. Ramos, from Harrisonville, Mo., is part of a Guard contingent mobilized to assist local law enforcement with traffic control and other duties in the wake of Sunday’s devastating storm that left more than 116 people dead. Ramos said he just completed 2 weeks of state emergency flood duty in Mississippi County before being transferred here to assist with rescue and recovery efforts. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Jon E. Dougherty, 70th Mobile Public Affairs Det.

The Joplin Globe continues its fine work reporting the disaster in its city. The city conducted a siren test this morning and all but one were functional. One siren is missing and its replacement will be installed on Wednesday. Generators are being put into place to provide power to them, as they are on battery power at this time.

The Missouri Air National Guard has begun to provide assistance in the stricken city. One crew has been flying VIPs over the city. They have not been called upon for additional duties at this time.

• City of Joplin on Facebook
• Missouri National Guard on Facebook
• State of Missouri Joplin tornado website
• Joplin, MO Tornado Recovery on Facebook