JOPLIN, MO, Tornado, 22 May 2011

Joplin tornado 22 May 2011.
The last minute before the monster tornado struck
Trying to get gasoline for the V8, petrol station closed and on tornado alert so we needed to reposition for the storm very quickly. I heard that the girl at the Sonoco gas station, North in town is ok.
We were being chased by the tornado instead of chasing the tornado, while on the 171 coming into town from the Northwards direction.
Less than 500 meters was between us and this EF 5 tornado.
managed to get on the interstate just on time with seconds to go.
Tour 3 SLT ( Silver Lining Tours )
We crossed this tornado path twice, even on the interstate just less than 1 minute before the tornado crossed and flipped over the semi trucks.
You can clearly see lights flicker and go out as the tornado takes out power lines in it's path.
It was interesting to note that many drivers on the road were completely oblivious to the sirens, and were driving and texting on their cellphones instead of observing the approaching tornado and trying to get out of it's path.
Most of us felt sick after wards, but it actually sank in a few hours / days later as we really had no idea what actually was happening in Joplin.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Joplin
• tornado
• chasing
• storm
• HP_supercell
• meso
• lightning
• rain
• wild
• weather
• tour3
• SLT
• rainwrapped
• powerflash
• wedge
• wind
• inflow
• EF5
• Missouri

[MichaelAdamsRocks]

At 1:58, someone mentioned taking shelter at The Home Depot. I work for Home Depot and I know that store was completely demolished and one of the employees were sadly killed. It was good they didn't seek shelter there, they may not have made it.

[RODALCO2007]

@MichaelAdamsRocks Thank you for your feedback. It was a very close call. This tornado was absolutely devastating. My condoleances to the loss of your work college.

[Gebora]

i dont mind tourists coming down here and watching tornados, it doesnt occur hardly anywhere else at this magnitude, it really is a sight to see, as long as they dont enjoy it for the wrong reasons, what these guys did is perfectly ok(though crazy) and for those who misunderstood the woman, she ment that the drivers on the road didnt care about the fact that theres a tornado on the ground, and were moving along like buisness as usual.

[RODALCO2007]

@Gebora No one want to see people get hurt or killed in tornadoes. We wanted to render assistance but were not allowed too as the police had blocked off the interstate. When chasing tornadoes you want to have tornadoes in the fields, well away from population or farmyards. Unfortunately sometimes these tornadoes hit a town, weather there are storm chasers or not, and people will suffer as a result of that. Thanks for your comment.

[virtualasasn]

Rodal do you know who made this or where you got it....my dad almost died and my brothers frinds lost both her parents.

[RODALCO2007]

@virtualasasn Sorry to hear about your brothers friends parents.

[dribbledrabble]

To the asshole who said people shouldn't build houses where tornadoes occur- what am imbecile. Tokyo suffers from EQ's all the time, I suppose we should just make over a million people move? No, the answer lies in science & structural engineering. Get a clue.

[italiangirl9696]

I am so afraid of weather. I know I shouldn't be because I live in Vermont and the worst I have lived through was Irene, and that was absolutely nothing compared to this, or even lower states who got hit by Irene. I just hate myself when I freak out over thunderstorm, because I know these people live through so much worse. When that guy said he felt sick, that's how I feel when I sit on my bed when we have heavy winds or there are flashes of lightning. I feel like I'm gonna throw up.

[Toxers100]

3:21*

[Toxers100]

3:24 Black people at KFC

[CarrieBHS]

@clutterman1212 I live in Alabama. Please type in the English language. Thank you.

[cflo1386]

F these tourists. God Bless Joplin.

[dynamicwolf]

@Doodsydownunder

No problem. That’s the problem with the internet is lack of face to face dialogue that shows emotion and understanding to help better avoid confusion of what one is trying to make a point of. I’m sorry to hear about the bush fires, that’s horrible. We all the world over, deal with our own set of nature’s fury on different continents under different conditions. I feel bad whenever this stuff happens like the Japan Tsunami. We all just got to hang in there, help where we can.

[Doodsydownunder]

@dynamicwolf I agree. We have some terrible natural disasters in our country aswell. We lost 200 people to bushfires that ravaged my state back in 2009. The only thing I took offence to was my interpretation of your comment that only overseas tourists get a thrill from chasing these destructive storms, which is obviously, not the case.

[dynamicwolf]

@Doodsydownunder

Don’t take my response the wrong way. Many people’s feelings are sensitive to catastrophes like this. Especially the ones directly affected by it or those nearby trying to help. I live not too far away and donated money to help the victims. It’s a sensitive topic to a great deal of people. 4 states, many cities, and the government rushed in to help because this was so grave. That’s my argument for why chasing tornadoes should be for info gathering not thrills

[dynamicwolf]

@Doodsydownunder

No, I maxed out my characters last statement. Anyone can receive a thrill from this, but I don’t find it compelling to seek out natures torment that causes death and destruction. Yes, I’ve watched plenty of tornado videos. The video came across as, “We’re not from here, just visiting, but this town is screwed.” It wasn’t said, but sure felt implied. If you lived around this area and know people who’ve lost homes and loved ones, you take it to heart. Peace.