2011 Joplin Tornado Essay

Sunday, May 22, 2011 started as any other conventional Sunday morning. People waking up early to go worship their God, a few sleeping in, and others on their way to work. Expeditiously all that peace was ripped away from their souls. May 22, 2011 will forever have a hold of the hearts of many Missourians in Joplin. The 2011 Joplin tornado was a catastrophic EF5 multiple-vortex tornado that struck Joplin, Missouri in the late afternoon of Sunday, May 22, 2011. “The Enhanced F-scale, or EF scale, is a set of wind estimates (not measurements) based on damage” (Enhanced Fujita Tornado Damage Scale). The Joplin tornado reached wind speeds of at least 200 mph, putting the tornado at the highest part of the scale. The tornado rapidly intensified and tracked eastward across the city, and then …show more content…
“We had been in Arkansas training our cadaver dogs” (Fletcher), she had stated. Soon later, Fletcher and her friend got the call that would change her life indefinitely. Joplin, Missouri was being struck by a massive tornado. “A guy riding with me was on the phone with his girlfriend as the tornado was hitting her house” (Fletcher). Umpteen thoughts were running through her mind as she raced home, “[I was] worried about where I needed to go first, and as a paramedic, who did I help first” (Fletcher). Little did she know how serious the tornado actually was. “The tornado was rated an EF-5 on the Enhanced-Fujita Scale (the maximum rating) with wind speeds over 200 miles per hour, and resulted in a damage path that was 22.1 miles long and up to 1 mile wide” (2011 Tornado Information). Fletcher stated how the weather there was always lousy, she even noted how a tornado would touch down every year. “I was surprised that it did so much damage, that shocked me” (Fletcher). Not only was damage done to the homes of those in Joplin, but to their lives as