I was in this tornado. I lost everything. Took hours to get me out from under my house. Scariest thing I've ever been through. I still have severe ptsd and anxiety. I lived right by the hospital in this video. The way the people from Joplin and surrounding areas came together to help was really amazing.
You know kitties and animals can pick up your emotions, kitty may not have understood why you were upset but kitty came up to you all to try and cheer you up!
That WAS a nasty storm! So very thankful you experienced it by video and not in person. By the way, your cat shows great concern for your safety. She loves you very much.
yes, many animals (especially pets) are much more aware than people may think. especially more intelligent breeds of dogs and cats, they can be like sponges. poodles are so tuned into their emotional environment that it affects their health if they're in a situation where there's a lot of emotional turmoil, like a household that's got abuse going on inside it.
I was in this tornado with my 3yo son. It was the most terrifying day of my life. But the support our community received in the aftermath was incredible.
So glad to know you and your son are okay. This is the way God works; may as well get used to it. I hope you and your son will move to a better place. I moved out of tornado territory years ago. I moved up north where tornados are rare.
Was there too.... I live in diamond... My kids lived on Annie Baxter between 20th and 22nd. ( I don't remember the address).... They ended up in Carl and I ended up at 20th and main helping ppl as much as I could with 3 flat tires and no room in my 72' beetle....
My family and friends all went through it also... Ur not alone... We All saw things we shouldn't have..... If u want proof I'm real, cicis pizza moves to 16th Street after the NATO
My father lives nearby in Kansas, about 20 mins away. I visit him once a year and just this year I participated in the final Freeman half marathon/Joplin memorial run. I visited Joplin a few weeks after the tornado and witnessed what I could only describe as an absolute disaster. I'm glad to hear you made it through with your son, I cannot imagine what it must've been like. You had an Angel with you when you needed most! The 161 will always be remembered...
My wife’s grandmother lived in Joplin her whole life. This tornado destroyed all the homes on the street but hers. She was 97 at the time. She lived to be 102!
UA-camr Will Norton (Will da Beast) was returning home from his high school graduation when the tornado hit. His mom and sister were in one car and made it home safely. Will and his dad were a few minutes behind in Will's Humvee and were hit. They were on the phone with his mom because his dad had called to tell them to open the garage door so Will could pull in when they arrived. Will and his dad were holding onto each other and praying, but Will's seatbelt snapped and he was pulled out thru the sunroof. The car was flipped several times but his dad survived. Will was found several days later in a pond. Their house was not damaged, so if they had been just a few minutes quicker they would not have been harmed. Will had been accepted to film school and the university created a scholarship in his name. The city of Joplin also built a baseball/softball facility in his name that was constructed to allow anyone to play, even if they have disabilities. In an odd coincidence, just a few weeks before his death, Will did a storytime video called I Almost Died Today and the events eerily resembled how he actually died.
I worked at Leggett corporate and knew Tracy (Will's aunt I believe) this was so heartbreaking. My daughter and her husband and baby lived 6 blocks north of where the tornado touched down. We lived in Carthage, about 22 miles east. Even though I wasn't in the tornado, it still gives me chills and brings tears watching this.
I was a Federal responder to the Joplin tornado, the images I witnessed still haunt me. The resiliency of the city and it's people is beyond commendable. They came together and recovered in a way above and beyond anything I've experienced.
We are Americans. We are strong in spirit and love for one another. We mourn together and we rejoice together. We pray for strength from Almighty God. And find comfort in his loving arms to give us the courage to heal and go on. 😢
I worked at a bank when that tornado happened. I had to find every customer that had a loan in Joplin and give them a break on their car payments. One of the favorite things I have done.
When you said “wether humans are here or not, there will still be tornados” that was really powerful actually. They don’t have mercy. They don’t care what or who’s in the path. If the conditions are right they will destroy an entire community and the disappear into the sky like nothing ever happened. Great reaction
That's part of what makes them so terrifying... they are so ethereal and temporary. Sunny and 30 minutes later you're under the craziest dark sky that somehow FEELS wrong at a visceral level, tornado forms amd absolutely wrecks everything and in 30 minutes it just dissolves away. 15 minutes later the Sun is back out like nothing happened. It's almost mythic.
This is why I say they're like eldritch horrors. Just like Cthulhu and other monsters, they do not care whether people are there or not. They don't mean harm either, it's simply their nature to be so violently destructive. They are uncaring and brutal.
@@mycroft16 Absolutely and well said. I live on the Gulf Coast, and at my age, I've been through many hurricanes. I'll take a hurricane ANY day over a tornado. At least with a hurricane, you know you can prepare & hunker down, or you can evacuate. Tornados....nope...
My wife and I lived a house north of 24th and Virginia. We got to the basement a bit under 30 seconds before it it. We said a prayer, said I love you, and goodbye. We didn't expect to come out. The big thing was how many people descended on Joplin and how fast they got there to help. It is the greatest example of humanity I think i will ever see. To this day, we're still affected by the experience in a strong way.
I was living in Utah at the time and there were calls for people with SAR and construction experience, contractors, craftsmen, electricians, etc who could leave immediately and convoy for 2 days non stop. And a lot went. Of all of the insane F5s Joplin was somehow more intensely shocking in terms of the chaos of the destruction. Instead of a bomb it looked like the town was put in a blender and then just dumped back out on the ground.
Thank you! Very difficult to watch but gives you an appreciation for the absolute power of an F5. A special thank you to Carol for being willing to watch. Love you both.
I can't say that I have an appreciation of this. God does what He wants to do. The best thing you can do afterward if you survive is to move far north out of this type of weather. That's what I did and since that time many, many years ago, I have not seen any local tornadoes.
My hometown church sent people to Joplin for 2 weeks to help clean up. 10 years prior, people from Joplin had come to Graham when the Possum Kingdon Lake area was on fire and burned for weeks. People from my church had housed and fed so many people from all over the country who had come to help, so we were naturally some of the first people to go and help when others needed it.
I'm in Kansas City, about 2.5hrs away. I remember calling as many people I knew and telling them to caravan with me to Joplin to help search & rescue - even though I knew no one in that area. Just felt compelled to go. I remember dropping to my knees and just sobbing when I got there. It was utter devastation. Not even recognizable. It was so overwhelming, you just didn't know where to start. We just fanned out and started screaming "We're here to help!", hoping against hope we'd hear cries for help. We'd pull someone out of the rubble, assess their injuries, then race to the next pile of debris. I cried through this whole reaction video. It's still hard to think about, especially when strong thunderstorms are reported nearby. I do what I need to for my family, but inside, I'm a screaming mess.
The universe harbors things magnificent and things terrible. Life is meant for enjoying its magnificence. But when we must, we face the terrible. As boldly as we can. You've a kind soul. You didn't even have to face the terror yourself. But you did. Like a spark of magnificence rushing into the the wake of something horrrible. Burning bright, casting light back into a place where it was put out. You rushed in to sponge up some of the horror there, to help those people. But it is over. You've carried it far enough. Wring out that sponge. Let it out. You don't deserve to keep carrying it like that. When you're done, look up. There's magnificence to behold everywhere. And more than most, you deserve to enjoy it.
Of course I'm here. 2nd time watching this. Carol, after disasters like this, people come together to help. I'm in Omaha and we had semi trucks of donations that went to Joplin. We had a tornado here a couple of weeks ago and people from all over came to help. That's one thing about the US. You might see awful stuff on the news about us, but when people are hurting from natural disasters, we don't care about your politics. We care about our fellow humanity.
My brother in law went to help after hurricane Katrina as a paramedic. He was part of Emergency Services in the State of Rhode Island. We all gather together when tragedies happen.
My first husband was in the Omaha tornado. My parents were in the Grad Island one(ones). in both cases, they lost everything they had. Mennonite communities traveled to GI and Omaha to help with clean up. They brogue big construction trucks and help with individual clean up.
@@SuperDrLisa My daughter went to clean up after Katrina. she was there a month working in the 9th ward. She came back like a person who had been in a war zone.
Doesn't even have to be a natural disaster. I remember the lines to donate blood all over the country after 9-11. Don't get me wrong- when we get on our computers, we suck, tbh. But my town just had a tornado this year, and it was our (unfortunately) much maligned, immigrant neighbors who were helping us handle our tree debris. When we're looking our fellow man in the eye and see pain, all else falls to the wayside and we're just humans helping humans.
A friend of mine knew a friend of hers that lived in Joplin at the time. She was in a Walgreens shopping when the sirens went off. The store manager basically said gett in the cooler or leave, she left. Her brother lived close by only a couple of blocks away and had a basement. She drove there real quick, rode out the storm, and they never got hit, but they were real close. The Walgreens she was at was completely gone along with anyone who stayed. Shook her up bad.
Still here! Carol has compassion and wears her beautiful heart. My wife said, "if Carol and I lived close, I would want her as a friend. With that sweet cat."
Another horrible story from Joplin, a father and son were in a SUV, the son was sucked right out of his seatbelt thru the sunroof, while his dad tried to hold onto his legs.. his body was one of the last to be found 3 miles away from the truck, in a pond under debris 6 months later, the only thing that saved the father and held him in the truck, was the steering wheel. The father survived. the son had just graduated high school that day.
One of my friends moved to Ohio from Joplin a few years before the tornado happened. Her daughter and 16 year old grandson stayed in Joplin. His name was Lantz and he was was out driving when the storm hit. He tried to get home but couldn't see anything. It was awful. They had to wait for days before his body was identified. My friend was going crazy and totally helpless during those days. 13 years later and it still hurts her.
Tornados are truely some of the scariest weather phenomenon we have over here. You can track hurricanes, build seawalls/levys for floods, structure buildings to resist earthquakes, choke fires, and track tsunamis by tracking earthquake activity but Tornados: spawn out of no where sometimes even in the multiples, can be randomly either funnels or miles wide, be rain wrapped so you cant see them, can go anywhere from a few minutes to hours at a time with random speeds, can huck chunks of ice on top of their already crazy destructive winds, and don't even get me started on when they take on different colors.
We had a small (EF 1) tornado with approximately 12 funnels in our small community a couple of years ago. It was the first on record here. The response of the people was life-changing. As groups went to neighborhoods to cut downed trees, delivery trucks would show up only to drop off pizzas to feed the workers. We learned later that those pizzas came from a nearby town that had also been hit so badly that police were not letting anyone enter, yet the residents were giving away food. In the following days, people posted on Facebook offering free 24-hour daycare (licensed daycare facility) for anyone running a chainsaw. Others posted that they had free restaurant food for anyone still without power. It was amazing.
Disasters absolutely devastate lives... but allow the best parts of is to shine. For all our differences and "issues" when the chips are down and people are in need we all really do take care of each other. People from all over show up to help.
Carol, you hung in there! Your makeup made it as well. Please know the best of us shows up in any emergency. We just need to remember it! We don't forget the storms but sometimes we forget, over time, the sense of community! We ALL need each other. Love you guys 😘
Friends and I were some of the over 125,000 people who volunteered to help with clean up efforts. Along with all the cases of bottled water we could purchase for those affected, we brought our chainsaws backhoe n dump truck. I've witnessed bad accidents and War where people have died. But what we seen when we arrived was not prepared for. People in the beer cooler carries the emotion of a group of unfamiliar individuals facing death together. And then the hospital. How no one was killed at the hospital while it was ripped apart was nothing short of divine intervention. Was here to the end. Just as I was when you reacted the first time. 🚜🤠🐂
I live in Springfield, Missouri about 75 miles away, and I can remember Tornado debris falling on peoples lawns here in town. Crazy to think that Mother Nature can create something so powerful.
I've seen a lot of Europeans chide Americans about our flimsy houses that are destroyed so easily. (True, modern houses tend to be flimsy.) But most consruction is unable to withstand a powerful tornado. The powerful wind carries debris that acts like a legion of battering rams. The hospital in Joplin is a prime example. It was a multi-story steel-and-concrete building that ended up being twisted and shifted off its foundation, windows shattered. I remember at the time hearing about a patient being sucked out a window, though I think most sheltered. The building later had to be demolished and rebuilt.
I'm from Texas tornado alley and moved to Florida hurricane alley. We don't get many tornadoes touch down here even though the conditions are right and rotation. The storms blow through so fast to form being a peninsula. But what I have told people about the difference is that Tornadoes SUCK while Hurricanes BLOW. What causes so much damage is the pressure to the point where the building IMPLODES. Then the rotation picks up the dirt and debri and carries it with it. She was right in saying it looks like a bomb has gone off because the pressure reacts that way. The pressure is so great that glass bottles still sealed will have debri found them. The bottles expanded to the point debri was able to come in thru pours in the glass!! (Dallas 65 tornado) Broom thatch drilled into brick walls without breaking due to the cement expanded. The power of nature is amazing and frightening.
usa has hundreds of tornadoes every year. i grew up in tornado alley. these "disasters" are what helps to remind us that we are all one big family, and helps harden us so that we can later deal with difficult times.
We ( our neighborhood) took a hit from a tornado and living more rural , neighbors come to aid getting trees off houses, streets, driveways etc. BUT, and I’m sure this is everywhere….we had hordes of out of state tree removal companies wanting to charge outrageous prices…and trees down is not covered under insurance unless it’s on your house. We had 25 trees down on our property…some how only 1 hit the house…god was on our side. Anyway it kind of bugged me all these leeches coming from all over the country taking advantage of our situation.
@CarriUSA while disasters do let the best in us shine, sadly there are a shocking number of people who seem to have no best in them. And honestly you've got me thinking that there needs to be a way to report them for predatory practices and to publicly shame them. If you're showing up post major disaster like this... you should absolutely not be expecting payment of any kind unless sometime later they decide to thank you when they are back on their feet. Some people are truly sick.
I'm watching this for the first time in 2024. I lived in St. Louis Missouri when it happened. As someone in the video mentioned, people who live in the mid west Us, especially in the area called tornado alley, are used to hearing the warning sirens, and seeing the occasional tornado. But this was a freakish one, not only in its intensity but tornadoes generally kind of bounce. They dip down onto the ground for a few seconds to a few minutes at a time, but this monster was huge, intense and slow moving and it hugged the ground apparently over a wide area. The swath of devastation was staggering. But as you pointed out, this happened in the USA, near other large cities with resources, and volunteers hurried to help. recovery, in terms of the city itself, I think has been strong. But I'm sure no one who lived through it will ever be quite the same.
I worked at that Lowes in Joplin! I lived just south of there. This was a terrible storm and did such major damage! One man was in his car driving back home with his son who just graduated from high school. His sunroof was open and the tonado sucked the son out and the mans' arms were torn out of their sockets from holding onto him. The son was found in a body of water about a week later! RIP!
Is the son the one who was a UA-camr? Will Norton I believe? I hear there’s a baseball field in Joplin now named after him. I also remember watching a more recent video his sister posted, at least 10 years after the event, remembering him.
@@ppiechnik If you don’t mind me asking, do you still live in Joplin? In January 2021, I was driving up to Kansas City and drove through Joplin. We stopped for food on Range Line Rd. , and at the time I was not familiar with the path of the tornado. I remember being really impressed with how nice and new all the commercial buildings along that road looked, but at the time I didn’t realize that was because all the previous buildings there had been destroyed ten years prior in the tornado… still, it’s very impressive to see how well Joplin rebuilt, and everyone there seems to be doing well now.
Ya, I recall reading that story, but remember as a grandfather and grandson (I could be misremembering it,) and the boy was sucked through the moon roof. Neither the seatbelt, nor family, could keep him in his seat. 💔
Tornado sirens can be pretty nerve wracking... we got to wake up to them at 6:30 this morning in West Michigan - for a destructive thunderstorm with straight-line winds. That was a first for me. The siren went off for over half an hour, and I live about 400 ft from it 😂😂🤬
As an American raise in Tornado Alley, I cry every single time I watch this video. I cry everytime I watch any video about the Joplin Tornado. I cry everytime I see horrific damage from a tornado. I can watch this video on repeat and it will get me every single time. That beer cooler video gets me every single time, I watched in on repeat for days after it happened and couldn't stop crying for days.
I’ve seen a longer clip from inside the gas station. You can hear a child scream “I LOVE YOU MAMA!!” And Mama saying “I’m ok I’m ok!” Sends a chill up my spine every time I hear it.
My little town of 500 has tornado warning sirens. A "warning" means that a tornado has been sighted. A "watch" means conditions are right. The sirens go off when RADAR sees air curents start rotating.
That Tornado picked up St. John's Hospital and moved it 4 inches (~10 cm) off its foundation. Let me say that again.... a tornado picked up a nine story brick and cement building and moved it 4 inches off its foundation. That's super powerful.
@@tomlorenzen4062 They probably misinterpreted the warped as "moved". It did indeed twist the structure and was demolished because there's no fixing that.
My dad was a firefighter that got called in to help with this tornado. Around when the tornado touched down, my parents, brother, and I were at home, just like any other day, with dinner on the stove. Suddenly, my dad got a call from the Joplin FD. They called him in to work. I don't remember too much after that, other than my brother wanting to go to our neighbor's storm shelter during this, but i do remember that my dad was waiting outside of Joplin to go to one the stations when the tornado ripped through it. It is rare for a tornado to go from just rotation in the clouds to a mile wide wedge in under a minute, let alone witness it or be alive for it. My dad is one of the ones that helped with the search and rescue that day. He's told me that he had to go to therapy after the disaster, and i plan on asking him of the event, but it was probably one of the worst natural disasters of the century so far. luckily, Joplin has rebuilt since then, and is now going stronger than before.
I was living in Grove OK during this, we spent all night packed with neighbors inside a very small tornado shelter as the storm raged. The day before we were in Joplin shopping and we went back the next day to help any way we could. It was horrific. Parts of the city were untouched, like nothing had happened and then a few houses down and it was just complete devastation as far as you could see. I've never seen anything like it. This tornado also wiped entire small towns off the map, nothing left. I'll never forget it as long as I live.
I went through a bad tornado myself and if not for my husband's quick thinking i probably would not be here today. One Tuesday night about 11:30pm, my husband and I were asleep in bed. Next thing I know I am waking up on the floor with rain hitting me in the face. A noise so loud that it sounded like AC/DC turned all the way up was all i could hear. Then it went dead quiet. Rain still hitting me in the face. My husband had grabbed me out of the bed and pulled me to the floor. Where I was sleeping now was a huge tree limb. All I could see was black. Power was out and it was almost midnight. The reason I could feel rain was because my roof was gone. My bed was made of heavy wood and it saved our lives. I'm an extremely deep sleeper so I didn't hear it coming. My husband's a light sleeper so he woke up and with his quick thinking, saved us both. This tornado flattened our home except for the one room we were in. I say it was divine intervention. We lost a few animals...pets. It was a rough time. We moved to another state. Be thankful you don't have to worry about these horrific storms. Carol, you have a beautiful soul. Hope you both are doing well. Sending you love from Texas ❤❤
Everyone says it sounds like a train coming….not for us. It was dead silent, not even a cricket, no wind…dead silent. 1:30 in the morning the dog has to go out….just a hot night. The sirens went off, but that’s how the volunteer fire department calls out for emergencies…I stupidly passed it off.My cat starts to scream bloody murder…which I hear now is barometric pressure that animals are sensitive to…and I pick her up wonder what is wrong with her and she is shaking scared. About 10 seconds later then it hit…like a wall hit the house and all I could hear is trees crashing down all on and around the house. We ran to the basement and it was done in like a minute it seemed like. Long story short …it was a F2 only 1/4 mile away…couldn’t imagine bigger. Only one of four entrances to the house was not blocked and it was like god mowed down the earth. All I cared about was the dog who we thought was dead…but I suppose fear …she showed up 10 hours later. Again , I didn’t hear a train🤷♀️ But my cat sure was an alarm and I now listen to to warning sirens🙄
@@CarriUSA Wow! That is scary. Thank goodness y'all were ok. Glad to hear your animals were saved as well. We lost 3 beloved pets...2 cats and a dog. That was worse than losing my house. Stay safe my friend.
@@artsysabs Yes...especially when you can't see anything. We lived out in the country with no houses near us. So when the power is out it is pitch black. You can't see your hand in front of your face. This was in the 90's so there were no cell phones. I don't remember how many times I tripped and fell from limbs all over the ground. It really was a scary time. So glad it is over. Now we are having to watch out for Beryl. Tornadoes all around us right now.
Love you both. As Americans we fuss and argue with each other like any family but, when it comes down to it, we are right there for each other. I really hope someday you two can come over.
My former company has a plant there, just 10 blocks from the area that was hardest hit. All of our managers and supervisors took a list of their employees and addresses to go find them and help as needed. I in our CA office received calls from almost every supervisor reporting to me how happy they were to find their employees alive even if their house was flattened. Everyone knows me as the timesheet lady, and they needed someone to talk to because most of their employees were trying to help with the disaster. All of our employees were alive. They were elated to find out our plant didn't sustain any damage because that meant they all still had jobs, which they would really need now. We created a disaster fund to help with the employees' expenses and allowed them more time off to deal with the logistics of rebuilding or rehoming their families. Fortunately, only 30% were affected as our employees don't all live in that part of Joplin, or they live in surrounding towns. God bless Joplinites!
Someday I’ll write a book about this tornado and how the town has recovered since. It’s truly inspiring, and if you make a US visit, I’d recommend stopping in Joplin. Subbed!
I lived in Joplin when the tornado hit. I was just on the edge of so didn’t get any damage, but my sister‘s home was flattened with my sister inside and she survived. And devastation was beyond. I lost two friends. But it has been rebuilt beautifully. But will never be the same.
Rick and Carol, I live in Ontario, Canada and I'm here for your documentary 🇨🇦❤🇸🇪 and subscribe to your channel and I was a Tornado survivor in the early 80's we had a Tornado outbreak of I believe it was between 14-17 tornadoes that hit Ontario, Canada. Looking forward seeing more content from your channel.
Of course I’m still here. I love how your sweet kitty knew you were upset and came to you to provide support. 💜 I live in the Chicago suburbs and have grown up with tornado warnings/watches and tornado siren tests at 10 am the first Tuesday of EVERY month. Tornadoes are truly awesome, in the true sense of the word.
This is the first time I've seen any of your videos- and it's the half way point, and as a second generation Swedish/Norwegian American from families that settled in North Dakota and Minnesota, I send my regards. Skol!
I was eatin dinner with my aunt in joplin at long john silvers on rangeline the day this hit. Grew up most my life in joplin. It was definitely a surprise that it actually hit the city as tornados are obviously common in the 4 state area. So usually no one pays much mind. Once I realized it was really real I grabbed my aunt, and with the help of another guy suggested we all go to the freezer. Some people just tried to leave in their vehicles.(Not sure what become of them) There was around 10 of us in the freezer. This other guy, and myself were the only grown men. We had a good ol time holding the door shut.....seemed like forever my arms were giving out. Eventually it was over, and when we stepped out it was absolute destruction. Not completely flattened, but there was no clear way to tell where we even were. I called up my best friend to link up to go around helping people throughout the night, and into the next afternoon. It was an experience thats for sure. The power was overwhelming. I couldnt even imagine some of these huge hurricanes that hit the coasts or tsunamis in asia. Mother nature is wild. My friends, and family were all right on the edge so were okay. We were blessed.....ive had a handful of experiences in my life that I could or should of died. So I try for the most part to not take this life for granted. Matter of fact I need to call my dad lol
I was a truck driver when this happened and drove through Joplin the day after, a delay getting loaded kept me from being parked at flying j trucks top
After this tornado they rebuilt the school gyms as giant tornado shelters. I did all of the sports graphics and signage in them. I’m about 45 minutes south of Joplin, but it still felt very close to home. You could see signs of the tornado even 7 or 8 years later throughout Joplin.
Not even joking, you can see it on Google Maps today. The path the tornado took from start to finish is plainly visible 13 years later. Those neighborhoods through the center of town that took the hit are NOTICEABLY more sparsely developed. You see more grass and dirt on this W to E path through town that doesn't make sense until you overlay the ground size of the funnel on it and they match. Other parts of the city have been developed with more density but that path has never fully redeveloped. It doesn't make sense from a city building or housing point of view... it's almost like people don't want to move there... no idea.
I have an Great Aunt that lived in northern Joplin. She went to help the hospital because the damage was worse than you think. The building was fine but medicine, equipment, and most importantly paperwork all were scattered over miles. My 74 yr old Great Aunt wandered through fields and around a lot of the rubble just hunting down patient files... because they didn't have a lot of time, many of the comatose or ICU patients lost all their paperwork so it needed to be found to avoid fatal allergy reactions and other things.
Your sweet cat was so empathetic to your stress as you watched...precious. And as a resident of Missouri, just a couple hours from Joplin, who lost a coworker there, your compassion was evident as were your hearts and I appreciate your tears. Thank you❤❤
Recky don't put Carol through this again. I live in Kansas, the middle of tornado alley and I have cried more watching Carol than I did when I watched tornado footage. Carol your heart shows, Recky yours does too, but Carol, oh my gosh I just want to hug you right now.
I know, you don't seem to be the type to force her. It came from a protective need. You both are great. My husband is from Sweden. I tell him all sbout you guys. Thanks for all you do.
9:04 I have spent every single one of my 41 years of life in Kansas. I have seen tornados, and I have watched them form. I have never seen one spin up that large that fast.
My youngest daughter was in a building on Rangeline she ran to for shelter. She took her high heels off to run for it. She crawled out of the rubble, insulation blown into her feet, & walked the path of the tornado. I got the end tail of a vortex from it that was going up as it damaged upper sides of buildings, took roof tiles off and split trees in half. We were lucky. My daughter was able to miraculously get a call to me to ask if I was ok & did we still have a home. She had survived, too. That call went thru, even though the cell towers were down. There were many other stories. Sad ones. Heroic ones. This place went right to work to save, clear, get help to, just do what was needed. Help came to Joplin from all over, too. Even one young man came from Japan to help out! It was a beautiful horrible in that way. My daughter is still nervous around storms. She saw things that even as a nurse, I didn’t see. Thank you for showing this, I had seen some of the footage, some I hadn’t. Yes, and you can still see those neighborhoods that were flattened. The scars remain even after the rebuilding. So many trees gone. It even sucked grass off of the ground. God Bless you & pet Kitty for me.😊 💖🌷💖🌷💙💙
Still here :) I was 5 when Barrie, Ontario, Canada was hit by multiple tornados in 1985. My husband lived in Edmonton, Alberta, when they were hit in 1987 I believe. Love to both of you from Canada!
Storm chasers. They are all like that. My son had a teacher who was a storm chaser...they're all volunteers...and she and her husband were both just wild, extreme sports, genius, storm chaser people. They definitely are all the type of guys who would charge the gates of hell so they could report on it. But really, they're heroes, because they report all the information needed to predict the tornado.
@@Hollylivengood Reed Timmer is one of those people. He screams like crazy. Drives some mad. But he has most definitely saved countless lives across America. No question.
@@amyhunter5309 I think their all amazing. And who was that guy who reinforced a vehicle so he could purposefully drive into a tornado and stay there to study their anatomy. Amazing tank kind of thing he made, and it had hydraulic stabilizers. And that man calmly drove right into a tornado, jammed his stabilizers into the ground, and sat there reading off all the information his machine ticked out. I've been hunkered down during a tornado, and they are loud. Like painfully so. It isn't easy to stay calm during this ordeal. But he did, and all the information he collected is used for construction technology today. Keeping homes together in tornado alley.
It's long but "20 Minutes in May" talks about the immediate aftermath and longer term clean up from the Joplin event by the man who was in charge of that.
@ReckyandCarol, I was a first Responder when an EF5 destroyed Plainfield, IL. The EF scale was created by a survivor of Hiroshima who immigrated to the USA. When he saw how Tornadoes destroy, he instantly associated it to Hiroshima. An EF5 does the same damage an airburst nuclear bomb does, just without radiation. In my 50+yrs I've seen the level of tornado preparedness increase exponentially, especially since Joplin. We live in Missouri today. I actually chose our homesite so the topography on our land gives us protection from all but the worst Tornadoes.
UA-cam recommended this video. I decided to watch even though I’ve seen plenty of Joplin footage. I have to say this…. Carol, I love your precious heart. You’re a beautiful, empathetic woman. Recky, you’re a fine, logical man. I’m so glad I was introduced to your channel. I can’t wait to watch other videos. Thank you!
Of COURSE, I'm still here, y'all. I hope y'all watch the Tornado Alley - Real Time Tornado - Moore, Oklahoma one next - I had family who lost their home in that one. You're right, Recky. I experienced my first tornado recently, and neighbors were checking on neighbors. Neighbors helping neighbors clean up. 100% truth to that. I'm surprised people from Sweden wouldn't do that. It's just what you do. Please give Carol a hug from me. ❤ EDIT: I forgot to mention that an overpass is where you DON'T want to be during a tornado. It makes the wind go faster when there is less room to pass through (example: putting a finger over the opening of a garden hose to make the water go faster - same concept)...just food for thought. The movie, "Twister (1996)," got that wrong, and unfortunately, people still do it.
Even watching a footage from inside buildings as it absolutely shreds them... it feels unreal somehow. The raw fury and power of a big tornado is just outside of our ability to really process.
I can't imagine the PTSD suffered by the people of Joplin, especially among children. In 2006 my Illinois town was hit. There were zero deaths but a swath of destruction about a mile from my home. I'm a pediatrician (retired) and saw a lot of kids afterwards who developed "storm anxieties" including my own young daughters. The eldest at 26 still gets fairly anxious. During storms I promptly head to my basement. I have no shame for being a wuss!
I love how your sweet fur baby could sense your need for comfort. I live in the state of Alabama. Sadly we know all to well the effects of tornadoes and being so close to the Gulf waters we also have hurricanes to watch out for.
I've been a storm chaser here in Kansas for 11 years, Joplin was one of my first outbreaks that I ever chased. It was horrible. The inflow on that thing was INSANE. I hate chasing rain wrapped tornadoes (we call them HP or hih precipitation storms) are the worst because you can't see anything! If you guys ever come to Kansas and want up ride along on a storm chase, I gotchu! Love your channel!❤
Great video and commentary. This made me sweat and get a little queasy. We’ve had 3 tornadoes in my area in the last month with houses destroyed but not as big as the Joplin tornado and no loss of life. Makes us appreciate what we have and what we can help others with when storms like this happen. Looks like a very weather active summer here and I can say I haven’t see it like this ever in my 40 some years
Moa (closed captions spelled it "mua") is great. Love kitties, and their ability to sense and comfort. BTW, I started following the hospital's flickr account the week of this storm, and have watched them rebuild and recover. My mum is a retired nurse, and at the time lived about 40 mi east of Joplin, and know she volunteered a couple times to help after tornadoes in the area, including this one. She turns 90 next month, and has Alzheimer's, so her volunteering days are over.
Seeing how compassionate you are I think that you would be there for others going through this kind of disaster. I've lived through a few tornados, but nothing to this extent. And always there were helpers afterward.
Hi from Mississippi, USA! I really enjoy your storm videos because I think it's cool that you're curious about the weather and also about other parts of the world. I've watched a lot of storm videos before but watching your reactions are like watching with a neighbor. Please keep doing good work!
my ❤ went out to the community as i witnessed the humanity that was evident after the tornado. i can only imagine the myriad of feelings these residents experienced. carol is a kind and soft hearted person...we should have more people like her. 💕
I was in this tornado. I lost everything. Took hours to get me out from under my house. Scariest thing I've ever been through. I still have severe ptsd and anxiety. I lived right by the hospital in this video. The way the people from Joplin and surrounding areas came together to help was really amazing.
so sorry .
I’m so sorry !
❤❤❤
Thank God you were rescued. Prayers for complete peace and serenity and health for the rest of your days.
Im so sorry that you had to go thru this. =(
You know kitties and animals can pick up your emotions, kitty may not have understood why you were upset but kitty came up to you all to try and cheer you up!
That WAS a nasty storm! So very thankful you experienced it by video and not in person. By the way, your cat shows great concern for your safety. She loves you very much.
Thank you for this!!! That was my first thought when Kitty jumped in. Such a good baby who loves his humans
yes, many animals (especially pets) are much more aware than people may think. especially more intelligent breeds of dogs and cats, they can be like sponges. poodles are so tuned into their emotional environment that it affects their health if they're in a situation where there's a lot of emotional turmoil, like a household that's got abuse going on inside it.
Sweet Kitty. ♥️🐈⬛
kitties rock!!!!
Moa is great. She sensed your stress and wanted to comfort you. Her purrs were her way to do that
Thank you for saying that
That's exactly what I was thinking! She felt momma's sadness. 😻😻😻
She has so much concern on her little face.
My little Emma would do this too. Anytime I was upset she was in my face or on my head. Moa looks a lot like she did.
@@lynne8755she’s such a good kitty!
I was in this tornado with my 3yo son. It was the most terrifying day of my life. But the support our community received in the aftermath was incredible.
So glad to know you and your son are okay. This is the way God works; may as well get used to it. I hope you and your son will move to a better place. I moved out of tornado territory years ago. I moved up north where tornados are rare.
Was there too.... I live in diamond... My kids lived on Annie Baxter between 20th and 22nd. ( I don't remember the address).... They ended up in Carl and I ended up at 20th and main helping ppl as much as I could with 3 flat tires and no room in my 72' beetle....
My family and friends all went through it also... Ur not alone... We All saw things we shouldn't have..... If u want proof I'm real, cicis pizza moves to 16th Street after the NATO
My father lives nearby in Kansas, about 20 mins away. I visit him once a year and just this year I participated in the final Freeman half marathon/Joplin memorial run. I visited Joplin a few weeks after the tornado and witnessed what I could only describe as an absolute disaster. I'm glad to hear you made it through with your son, I cannot imagine what it must've been like. You had an Angel with you when you needed most! The 161 will always be remembered...
My wife’s grandmother lived in Joplin her whole life. This tornado destroyed all the homes on the street but hers. She was 97 at the time. She lived to be 102!
UA-camr Will Norton (Will da Beast) was returning home from his high school graduation when the tornado hit. His mom and sister were in one car and made it home safely. Will and his dad were a few minutes behind in Will's Humvee and were hit. They were on the phone with his mom because his dad had called to tell them to open the garage door so Will could pull in when they arrived. Will and his dad were holding onto each other and praying, but Will's seatbelt snapped and he was pulled out thru the sunroof. The car was flipped several times but his dad survived. Will was found several days later in a pond. Their house was not damaged, so if they had been just a few minutes quicker they would not have been harmed.
Will had been accepted to film school and the university created a scholarship in his name. The city of Joplin also built a baseball/softball facility in his name that was constructed to allow anyone to play, even if they have disabilities.
In an odd coincidence, just a few weeks before his death, Will did a storytime video called I Almost Died Today and the events eerily resembled how he actually died.
How sad.
Wow! Horrifying !
I worked at Leggett corporate
and knew Tracy (Will's aunt I believe) this was so heartbreaking. My daughter and her husband and baby lived 6 blocks north of where the tornado touched down. We lived in Carthage, about 22 miles east. Even though I wasn't in the tornado, it still gives me chills and brings tears watching this.
When they were still looking for him. ua-cam.com/video/xkDNIqnGcSQ/v-deo.htmlsi=NxRDJ-1uwQXHpu1E
The video he had made. ua-cam.com/video/DT6_VjoZQh8/v-deo.htmlsi=sH-EVBPvKEURCW00
The way that tornado went from nothing to a huge wedge is absolutely insane
I was a Federal responder to the Joplin tornado, the images I witnessed still haunt me. The resiliency of the city and it's people is beyond commendable. They came together and recovered in a way above and beyond anything I've experienced.
Thank you so very much, if you want to share, please do so. You never need to carry it alone.
We are Americans. We are strong in spirit and love for one another. We mourn together and we rejoice together. We pray for strength from Almighty God. And find comfort in his loving arms to give us the courage to heal and go on. 😢
Thank you for your sacrifice.
You definitely threw Carol into the deep end of the pool by choosing the Joplin tornado!
I worked at a bank when that tornado happened. I had to find every customer that had a loan in Joplin and give them a break on their car payments. One of the favorite things I have done.
The "Support Cat" was worried about you, it looked like...🐱
When you said “wether humans are here or not, there will still be tornados” that was really powerful actually. They don’t have mercy. They don’t care what or who’s in the path. If the conditions are right they will destroy an entire community and the disappear into the sky like nothing ever happened. Great reaction
That's part of what makes them so terrifying... they are so ethereal and temporary. Sunny and 30 minutes later you're under the craziest dark sky that somehow FEELS wrong at a visceral level, tornado forms amd absolutely wrecks everything and in 30 minutes it just dissolves away. 15 minutes later the Sun is back out like nothing happened. It's almost mythic.
This is why I say they're like eldritch horrors. Just like Cthulhu and other monsters, they do not care whether people are there or not. They don't mean harm either, it's simply their nature to be so violently destructive. They are uncaring and brutal.
i always wondered how native americans dealt with tornados.
I concur. Recky got that spot-on!
@@mycroft16 Absolutely and well said. I live on the Gulf Coast, and at my age, I've been through many hurricanes. I'll take a hurricane ANY day over a tornado. At least with a hurricane, you know you can prepare & hunker down, or you can evacuate. Tornados....nope...
Mr Rogers always said “look at all the helpers”
Ha! The irony, I'm scrolling through comments and saw yours while listening to a Mister Roger's interview.
My wife and I lived a house north of 24th and Virginia. We got to the basement a bit under 30 seconds before it it. We said a prayer, said I love you, and goodbye. We didn't expect to come out.
The big thing was how many people descended on Joplin and how fast they got there to help. It is the greatest example of humanity I think i will ever see.
To this day, we're still affected by the experience in a strong way.
I was living in Utah at the time and there were calls for people with SAR and construction experience, contractors, craftsmen, electricians, etc who could leave immediately and convoy for 2 days non stop. And a lot went. Of all of the insane F5s Joplin was somehow more intensely shocking in terms of the chaos of the destruction. Instead of a bomb it looked like the town was put in a blender and then just dumped back out on the ground.
I remember construction folks on fb getting people together to go help. From Tennessee.
Thank you! Very difficult to watch but gives you an appreciation for the absolute power of an F5. A special thank you to Carol for being willing to watch. Love you both.
I warned her about some might be to graphic.
I can't say that I have an appreciation of this. God does what He wants to do. The best thing you can do afterward if you survive is to move far north out of this type of weather. That's what I did and since that time many, many years ago, I have not seen any local tornadoes.
The Finger of God = F5 in tornado lore.
I love the fact that your sweet kitty can tell you’re upset and is giving you mad cuddles and comfort. 🩷🩷 very sweet.
I noticed that too!
My hometown church sent people to Joplin for 2 weeks to help clean up. 10 years prior, people from Joplin had come to Graham when the Possum Kingdon Lake area was on fire and burned for weeks. People from my church had housed and fed so many people from all over the country who had come to help, so we were naturally some of the first people to go and help when others needed it.
I'm in Kansas City, about 2.5hrs away. I remember calling as many people I knew and telling them to caravan with me to Joplin to help search & rescue - even though I knew no one in that area. Just felt compelled to go. I remember dropping to my knees and just sobbing when I got there. It was utter devastation. Not even recognizable. It was so overwhelming, you just didn't know where to start. We just fanned out and started screaming "We're here to help!", hoping against hope we'd hear cries for help. We'd pull someone out of the rubble, assess their injuries, then race to the next pile of debris. I cried through this whole reaction video. It's still hard to think about, especially when strong thunderstorms are reported nearby. I do what I need to for my family, but inside, I'm a screaming mess.
The universe harbors things magnificent and things terrible.
Life is meant for enjoying its magnificence.
But when we must, we face the terrible. As boldly as we can.
You've a kind soul. You didn't even have to face the terror yourself. But you did. Like a spark of magnificence rushing into the the wake of something horrrible. Burning bright, casting light back into a place where it was put out. You rushed in to sponge up some of the horror there, to help those people.
But it is over.
You've carried it far enough.
Wring out that sponge.
Let it out.
You don't deserve to keep carrying it like that.
When you're done, look up. There's magnificence to behold everywhere.
And more than most, you deserve to enjoy it.
Of course I'm here. 2nd time watching this. Carol, after disasters like this, people come together to help. I'm in Omaha and we had semi trucks of donations that went to Joplin. We had a tornado here a couple of weeks ago and people from all over came to help. That's one thing about the US. You might see awful stuff on the news about us, but when people are hurting from natural disasters, we don't care about your politics. We care about our fellow humanity.
My brother in law went to help after hurricane Katrina as a paramedic. He was part of Emergency Services in the State of Rhode Island. We all gather together when tragedies happen.
My first husband was in the Omaha tornado. My parents were in the Grad Island one(ones). in both cases, they lost everything they had.
Mennonite communities traveled to GI and Omaha to help with clean up. They brogue big construction trucks and help with individual clean up.
@@SuperDrLisa My daughter went to clean up after Katrina. she was there a month working in the 9th ward. She came back like a person who had been in a war zone.
Doesn't even have to be a natural disaster. I remember the lines to donate blood all over the country after 9-11. Don't get me wrong- when we get on our computers, we suck, tbh. But my town just had a tornado this year, and it was our (unfortunately) much maligned, immigrant neighbors who were helping us handle our tree debris.
When we're looking our fellow man in the eye and see pain, all else falls to the wayside and we're just humans helping humans.
A friend of mine knew a friend of hers that lived in Joplin at the time. She was in a Walgreens shopping when the sirens went off. The store manager basically said gett in the cooler or leave, she left. Her brother lived close by only a couple of blocks away and had a basement. She drove there real quick, rode out the storm, and they never got hit, but they were real close. The Walgreens she was at was completely gone along with anyone who stayed. Shook her up bad.
Going in the cooler doesn’t seem like a great idea 😭
@@artsysabsthat’s actually what they recommend in lieu of a storm shelter. They’re big and heavy and can survive more than an interior room alone
Still here! Carol has compassion and wears her beautiful heart. My wife said, "if Carol and I lived close, I would want her as a friend. With that sweet cat."
The audio from inside the gas station pulls at your heart. The lady praying and the guy telling everyone he loves them.
My great aunt was killed in that tornado. RIP aunt Jane.
Sorry for your loss.
So sorry for your loss
So sorry for your loss
Sorry for your loss.
I am so sorry for the loss of your great aunt Jane.
Another horrible story from Joplin, a father and son were in a SUV, the son was sucked right out of his seatbelt thru the sunroof, while his dad tried to hold onto his legs.. his body was one of the last to be found 3 miles away from the truck, in a pond under debris 6 months later, the only thing that saved the father and held him in the truck, was the steering wheel. The father survived. the son had just graduated high school that day.
You know, to this day his emotional cries for his son still haunt me!
That was the UA-cam kid right? He had a UA-cam channel, I believe.
So horrific.
@@taniele84Will Norton
Their story just broke my heart!
IIRC, the dad had broken bones in his hand from how hard he tried to hold onto him. That’s always the story that sticks out when I think of Joplin.
One of my friends moved to Ohio from Joplin a few years before the tornado happened. Her daughter and 16 year old grandson stayed in Joplin. His name was Lantz and he was was out driving when the storm hit. He tried to get home but couldn't see anything. It was awful. They had to wait for days before his body was identified. My friend was going crazy and totally helpless during those days. 13 years later and it still hurts her.
Tornados are truely some of the scariest weather phenomenon we have over here. You can track hurricanes, build seawalls/levys for floods, structure buildings to resist earthquakes, choke fires, and track tsunamis by tracking earthquake activity but Tornados: spawn out of no where sometimes even in the multiples, can be randomly either funnels or miles wide, be rain wrapped so you cant see them, can go anywhere from a few minutes to hours at a time with random speeds, can huck chunks of ice on top of their already crazy destructive winds, and don't even get me started on when they take on different colors.
Miss Carol is all of us watching this. ❤ No matter how many times we have seen it it's still shocking.
We had a small (EF 1) tornado with approximately 12 funnels in our small community a couple of years ago. It was the first on record here. The response of the people was life-changing. As groups went to neighborhoods to cut downed trees, delivery trucks would show up only to drop off pizzas to feed the workers. We learned later that those pizzas came from a nearby town that had also been hit so badly that police were not letting anyone enter, yet the residents were giving away food. In the following days, people posted on Facebook offering free 24-hour daycare (licensed daycare facility) for anyone running a chainsaw. Others posted that they had free restaurant food for anyone still without power. It was amazing.
Disasters absolutely devastate lives... but allow the best parts of is to shine. For all our differences and "issues" when the chips are down and people are in need we all really do take care of each other. People from all over show up to help.
Carol, you hung in there! Your makeup made it as well. Please know the best of us shows up in any emergency. We just need to remember it! We don't forget the storms but sometimes we forget, over time, the sense of community! We ALL need each other. Love you guys 😘
Friends and I were some of the over 125,000 people who volunteered to help with clean up efforts.
Along with all the cases of bottled water we could purchase for those affected, we brought our chainsaws backhoe n dump truck.
I've witnessed bad accidents and War where people have died. But what we seen when we arrived was not prepared for.
People in the beer cooler carries the emotion of a group of unfamiliar individuals facing death together.
And then the hospital.
How no one was killed at the hospital while it was ripped apart was nothing short of divine intervention.
Was here to the end.
Just as I was when you reacted the first time.
🚜🤠🐂
It was a fast 52 minutes.
The atomic bomb at Hiroshima destroyed nearly 5 sq mi. (13 km) The Joplin tornado destroyed over 7 sq mi. ( 18 km)
It was folks like you that did the real heavy lifting. Thank you.
Moa is great. Ms Carol almost made me cry. I grew up in Georgia in the US. We dealt with hurricanes and tornadoes. It never gets easier.
I live in Springfield, Missouri about 75 miles away, and I can remember Tornado debris falling on peoples lawns here in town. Crazy to think that Mother Nature can create something so powerful.
I love that your little kitty came up to comfort Carol. They know when you're not feeling good.
I've seen a lot of Europeans chide Americans about our flimsy houses that are destroyed so easily. (True, modern houses tend to be flimsy.) But most consruction is unable to withstand a powerful tornado. The powerful wind carries debris that acts like a legion of battering rams. The hospital in Joplin is a prime example. It was a multi-story steel-and-concrete building that ended up being twisted and shifted off its foundation, windows shattered. I remember at the time hearing about a patient being sucked out a window, though I think most sheltered. The building later had to be demolished and rebuilt.
I'm from Texas tornado alley and moved to Florida hurricane alley. We don't get many tornadoes touch down here even though the conditions are right and rotation. The storms blow through so fast to form being a peninsula. But what I have told people about the difference is that Tornadoes SUCK while Hurricanes BLOW. What causes so much damage is the pressure to the point where the building IMPLODES. Then the rotation picks up the dirt and debri and carries it with it. She was right in saying it looks like a bomb has gone off because the pressure reacts that way. The pressure is so great that glass bottles still sealed will have debri found them. The bottles expanded to the point debri was able to come in thru pours in the glass!! (Dallas 65 tornado) Broom thatch drilled into brick walls without breaking due to the cement expanded. The power of nature is amazing and frightening.
usa has hundreds of tornadoes every year. i grew up in tornado alley.
these "disasters" are what helps to remind us that we are all one big family, and helps harden us so that we can later deal with difficult times.
Why did you put disasters in quotes?
So true!
We ( our neighborhood) took a hit from a tornado and living more rural , neighbors come to aid getting trees off houses, streets, driveways etc. BUT, and I’m sure this is everywhere….we had hordes of out of state tree removal companies wanting to charge outrageous prices…and trees down is not covered under insurance unless it’s on your house. We had 25 trees down on our property…some how only 1 hit the house…god was on our side. Anyway it kind of bugged me all these leeches coming from all over the country taking advantage of our situation.
@CarriUSA while disasters do let the best in us shine, sadly there are a shocking number of people who seem to have no best in them. And honestly you've got me thinking that there needs to be a way to report them for predatory practices and to publicly shame them. If you're showing up post major disaster like this... you should absolutely not be expecting payment of any kind unless sometime later they decide to thank you when they are back on their feet. Some people are truly sick.
@@CarriUSA That's what Mossberg 500s are for.
I'm watching this for the first time in 2024. I lived in St. Louis Missouri when it happened. As someone in the video mentioned, people who live in the mid west Us, especially in the area called tornado alley, are used to hearing the warning sirens, and seeing the occasional tornado. But this was a freakish one, not only in its intensity but tornadoes generally kind of bounce. They dip down onto the ground for a few seconds to a few minutes at a time, but this monster was huge, intense and slow moving and it hugged the ground apparently over a wide area. The swath of devastation was staggering. But as you pointed out, this happened in the USA, near other large cities with resources, and volunteers hurried to help. recovery, in terms of the city itself, I think has been strong. But I'm sure no one who lived through it will ever be quite the same.
I worked at that Lowes in Joplin! I lived just south of there. This was a terrible storm and did such major damage! One man was in his car driving back home with his son who just graduated from high school. His sunroof was open and the tonado sucked the son out and the mans' arms were torn out of their sockets from holding onto him. The son was found in a body of water about a week later! RIP!
Is the son the one who was a UA-camr? Will Norton I believe? I hear there’s a baseball field in Joplin now named after him. I also remember watching a more recent video his sister posted, at least 10 years after the event, remembering him.
@andrewc6778 yes, same one.
@@ppiechnik If you don’t mind me asking, do you still live in Joplin? In January 2021, I was driving up to Kansas City and drove through Joplin. We stopped for food on Range Line Rd. , and at the time I was not familiar with the path of the tornado. I remember being really impressed with how nice and new all the commercial buildings along that road looked, but at the time I didn’t realize that was because all the previous buildings there had been destroyed ten years prior in the tornado… still, it’s very impressive to see how well Joplin rebuilt, and everyone there seems to be doing well now.
Ya, I recall reading that story, but remember as a grandfather and grandson (I could be misremembering it,) and the boy was sucked through the moon roof. Neither the seatbelt, nor family, could keep him in his seat. 💔
@agresticumbra It was his dad and it was only the 2 of them in the car.
I love the way the cat is there to comfort Carol during the video! Good Kitty!
It's not unusual at all for Carol to look amazing, but I have to say, Carol you look gorgeous today. Thank you both for this reaction. ❤
You took the words right out of my mouth!
Ditto 😗
Is it wrong to say that I love that the cat came in just when you began to be truly upset? What a treasure she is!!!
Tornado sirens can be pretty nerve wracking... we got to wake up to them at 6:30 this morning in West Michigan - for a destructive thunderstorm with straight-line winds. That was a first for me. The siren went off for over half an hour, and I live about 400 ft from it 😂😂🤬
Nothing wrong with that fam...
As an American raise in Tornado Alley, I cry every single time I watch this video. I cry everytime I watch any video about the Joplin Tornado. I cry everytime I see horrific damage from a tornado. I can watch this video on repeat and it will get me every single time. That beer cooler video gets me every single time, I watched in on repeat for days after it happened and couldn't stop crying for days.
The beer cooler video gets me too. All of those people, screaming and crying, all of that genuine fear....those poor people
So do I ugh.. and I don't live there 😢
I’ve seen a longer clip from inside the gas station. You can hear a child scream “I LOVE YOU MAMA!!” And Mama saying “I’m ok I’m ok!” Sends a chill up my spine every time I hear it.
That is the scariest, they are in pitch black
My little town of 500 has tornado warning sirens. A "warning" means that a tornado has been sighted. A "watch" means conditions are right.
The sirens go off when RADAR sees air curents start rotating.
That Tornado picked up St. John's Hospital and moved it 4 inches (~10 cm) off its foundation. Let me say that again.... a tornado picked up a nine story brick and cement building and moved it 4 inches off its foundation. That's super powerful.
Not true
What isn't true?
@@buffalobill9793 it did not pick up the hospital
@@tomlorenzen4062 They probably misinterpreted the warped as "moved". It did indeed twist the structure and was demolished because there's no fixing that.
@@tomlorenzen4062
It rotated a hospital off its foundation.
No need to be hyper-specific.
I survived this and still live here. thank you for reacting to this
My dad was a firefighter that got called in to help with this tornado. Around when the tornado touched down, my parents, brother, and I were at home, just like any other day, with dinner on the stove. Suddenly, my dad got a call from the Joplin FD. They called him in to work. I don't remember too much after that, other than my brother wanting to go to our neighbor's storm shelter during this, but i do remember that my dad was waiting outside of Joplin to go to one the stations when the tornado ripped through it. It is rare for a tornado to go from just rotation in the clouds to a mile wide wedge in under a minute, let alone witness it or be alive for it. My dad is one of the ones that helped with the search and rescue that day. He's told me that he had to go to therapy after the disaster, and i plan on asking him of the event, but it was probably one of the worst natural disasters of the century so far. luckily, Joplin has rebuilt since then, and is now going stronger than before.
I was living in Grove OK during this, we spent all night packed with neighbors inside a very small tornado shelter as the storm raged. The day before we were in Joplin shopping and we went back the next day to help any way we could. It was horrific. Parts of the city were untouched, like nothing had happened and then a few houses down and it was just complete devastation as far as you could see. I've never seen anything like it. This tornado also wiped entire small towns off the map, nothing left. I'll never forget it as long as I live.
Your empathy is appreciated. Many people are curious and shocked, but you dont always see people care like you showed. God bless.
I went through a bad tornado myself and if not for my husband's quick thinking i probably would not be here today. One Tuesday night about 11:30pm, my husband and I were asleep in bed. Next thing I know I am waking up on the floor with rain hitting me in the face. A noise so loud that it sounded like AC/DC turned all the way up was all i could hear. Then it went dead quiet. Rain still hitting me in the face. My husband had grabbed me out of the bed and pulled me to the floor. Where I was sleeping now was a huge tree limb. All I could see was black. Power was out and it was almost midnight. The reason I could feel rain was because my roof was gone. My bed was made of heavy wood and it saved our lives. I'm an extremely deep sleeper so I didn't hear it coming. My husband's a light sleeper so he woke up and with his quick thinking, saved us both. This tornado flattened our home except for the one room we were in. I say it was divine intervention. We lost a few animals...pets. It was a rough time. We moved to another state.
Be thankful you don't have to worry about these horrific storms. Carol, you have a beautiful soul.
Hope you both are doing well. Sending you love from Texas ❤❤
Everyone says it sounds like a train coming….not for us. It was dead silent, not even a cricket, no wind…dead silent. 1:30 in the morning the dog has to go out….just a hot night. The sirens went off, but that’s how the volunteer fire department calls out for emergencies…I stupidly passed it off.My cat starts to scream bloody murder…which I hear now is barometric pressure that animals are sensitive to…and I pick her up wonder what is wrong with her and she is shaking scared. About 10 seconds later then it hit…like a wall hit the house and all I could hear is trees crashing down all on and around the house. We ran to the basement and it was done in like a minute it seemed like. Long story short …it was a F2 only 1/4 mile away…couldn’t imagine bigger. Only one of four entrances to the house was not blocked and it was like god mowed down the earth. All I cared about was the dog who we thought was dead…but I suppose fear …she showed up 10 hours later. Again , I didn’t hear a train🤷♀️ But my cat sure was an alarm and I now listen to to warning sirens🙄
@@CarriUSA Wow! That is scary. Thank goodness y'all were ok. Glad to hear your animals were saved as well. We lost 3 beloved pets...2 cats and a dog. That was worse than losing my house.
Stay safe my friend.
A night time tornado sounds so much more horrific than a day time one 😭 (not that they both aren’t terrifying!)
@@artsysabs Yes...especially when you can't see anything. We lived out in the country with no houses near us. So when the power is out it is pitch black. You can't see your hand in front of your face. This was in the 90's so there were no cell phones. I don't remember how many times I tripped and fell from limbs all over the ground. It really was a scary time. So glad it is over. Now we are having to watch out for Beryl. Tornadoes all around us right now.
@@crazycatlady7621 oh gosh, the story only got scarier 😭😭 stay safe out there! 🙏🏻
Cat immediately senses distress and shows up to headbutt everyone.
22:20 hes watching the docu too (':
Love you both. As Americans we fuss and argue with each other like any family but, when it comes down to it, we are right there for each other. I really hope someday you two can come over.
All I have to say, Thank you for pronouncing joplin and Missouri correctly...
My former company has a plant there, just 10 blocks from the area that was hardest hit. All of our managers and supervisors took a list of their employees and addresses to go find them and help as needed. I in our CA office received calls from almost every supervisor reporting to me how happy they were to find their employees alive even if their house was flattened. Everyone knows me as the timesheet lady, and they needed someone to talk to because most of their employees were trying to help with the disaster. All of our employees were alive. They were elated to find out our plant didn't sustain any damage because that meant they all still had jobs, which they would really need now. We created a disaster fund to help with the employees' expenses and allowed them more time off to deal with the logistics of rebuilding or rehoming their families. Fortunately, only 30% were affected as our employees don't all live in that part of Joplin, or they live in surrounding towns. God bless Joplinites!
No matter how many times i see tornado footage or pictures, im still shocked every time at the destruction. My hearts aches for them.
Someday I’ll write a book about this tornado and how the town has recovered since. It’s truly inspiring, and if you make a US visit, I’d recommend stopping in Joplin. Subbed!
I lived in Joplin when the tornado hit. I was just on the edge of so didn’t get any damage, but my sister‘s home was flattened with my sister inside and she survived. And devastation was beyond. I lost two friends. But it has been rebuilt beautifully. But will never be the same.
Love kitty’s reaction! Perked up when the sirens started and cuddling Carol up. 😻
Rick and Carol, I live in Ontario, Canada and I'm here for your documentary 🇨🇦❤🇸🇪 and subscribe to your channel and I was a Tornado survivor in the early 80's we had a Tornado outbreak of I believe it was between 14-17 tornadoes that hit Ontario, Canada. Looking forward seeing more content from your channel.
Have you seen the “Boatlift” pertaining to 9/11 in NY. As horrific as that day was, it showed the beauty of humanity as well.
Yes please watch it
Yes, it's amazing
Of course I’m still here. I love how your sweet kitty knew you were upset and came to you to provide support. 💜 I live in the Chicago suburbs and have grown up with tornado warnings/watches and tornado siren tests at 10 am the first Tuesday of EVERY month. Tornadoes are truly awesome, in the true sense of the word.
27:14 Of course I'm still here Recky and Carol.
🥰
This is the first time I've seen any of your videos- and it's the half way point, and as a second generation Swedish/Norwegian American from families that settled in North Dakota and Minnesota, I send my regards. Skol!
I love your reactions to whatever we're watching. Carol is so empathetic to every situation and it really pulls on my heart!❤❤
Your kitty can tell that somerhing is wrong, but sits very calmly.
I was eatin dinner with my aunt in joplin at long john silvers on rangeline the day this hit. Grew up most my life in joplin. It was definitely a surprise that it actually hit the city as tornados are obviously common in the 4 state area. So usually no one pays much mind. Once I realized it was really real I grabbed my aunt, and with the help of another guy suggested we all go to the freezer. Some people just tried to leave in their vehicles.(Not sure what become of them) There was around 10 of us in the freezer. This other guy, and myself were the only grown men. We had a good ol time holding the door shut.....seemed like forever my arms were giving out. Eventually it was over, and when we stepped out it was absolute destruction. Not completely flattened, but there was no clear way to tell where we even were. I called up my best friend to link up to go around helping people throughout the night, and into the next afternoon. It was an experience thats for sure. The power was overwhelming. I couldnt even imagine some of these huge hurricanes that hit the coasts or tsunamis in asia. Mother nature is wild. My friends, and family were all right on the edge so were okay. We were blessed.....ive had a handful of experiences in my life that I could or should of died. So I try for the most part to not take this life for granted. Matter of fact I need to call my dad lol
I was a truck driver when this happened and drove through Joplin the day after, a delay getting loaded kept me from being parked at flying j trucks top
After this tornado they rebuilt the school gyms as giant tornado shelters. I did all of the sports graphics and signage in them. I’m about 45 minutes south of Joplin, but it still felt very close to home. You could see signs of the tornado even 7 or 8 years later throughout Joplin.
Not even joking, you can see it on Google Maps today. The path the tornado took from start to finish is plainly visible 13 years later. Those neighborhoods through the center of town that took the hit are NOTICEABLY more sparsely developed. You see more grass and dirt on this W to E path through town that doesn't make sense until you overlay the ground size of the funnel on it and they match. Other parts of the city have been developed with more density but that path has never fully redeveloped.
It doesn't make sense from a city building or housing point of view... it's almost like people don't want to move there... no idea.
I have an Great Aunt that lived in northern Joplin. She went to help the hospital because the damage was worse than you think. The building was fine but medicine, equipment, and most importantly paperwork all were scattered over miles. My 74 yr old Great Aunt wandered through fields and around a lot of the rubble just hunting down patient files... because they didn't have a lot of time, many of the comatose or ICU patients lost all their paperwork so it needed to be found to avoid fatal allergy reactions and other things.
Your sweet cat was so empathetic to your stress as you watched...precious. And as a resident of Missouri, just a couple hours from Joplin, who lost a coworker there, your compassion was evident as were your hearts and I appreciate your tears. Thank you❤❤
Recky don't put Carol through this again. I live in Kansas, the middle of tornado alley and I have cried more watching Carol than I did when I watched tornado footage. Carol your heart shows, Recky yours does too, but Carol, oh my gosh I just want to hug you right now.
She doing it on her own. Im not forcing her.
I know, you don't seem to be the type to force her. It came from a protective need. You both are great. My husband is from Sweden. I tell him all sbout you guys. Thanks for all you do.
Its kind nice to have someone to watch these with. Started watching the extreme weather videos after we went through the wildfire last year.
9:04 I have spent every single one of my 41 years of life in Kansas. I have seen tornados, and I have watched them form. I have never seen one spin up that large that fast.
My youngest daughter was in a building on Rangeline she ran to for shelter. She took her high heels off to run for it. She crawled out of the rubble, insulation blown into her feet, & walked the path of the tornado. I got the end tail of a vortex from it that was going up as it damaged upper sides of buildings, took roof tiles off and split trees in half. We were lucky.
My daughter was able to miraculously get a call to me to ask if I was ok & did we still have a home. She had survived, too. That call went thru, even though the cell towers were down.
There were many other stories. Sad ones. Heroic ones. This place went right to work to save, clear, get help to, just do what was needed. Help came to Joplin from all over, too. Even one young man came from Japan to help out!
It was a beautiful horrible in that way. My daughter is still nervous around storms. She saw things that even as a nurse, I didn’t see.
Thank you for showing this, I had seen some of the footage, some I hadn’t. Yes, and you can still see those neighborhoods that were flattened. The scars remain even after the rebuilding. So many trees gone. It even sucked grass off of the ground.
God Bless you & pet Kitty for me.😊 💖🌷💖🌷💙💙
Still here :) I was 5 when Barrie, Ontario, Canada was hit by multiple tornados in 1985. My husband lived in Edmonton, Alberta, when they were hit in 1987 I believe. Love to both of you from Canada!
There is a world destroying, fire breathing dragon.....there is that ONE GUY who says...."Wait, we can get CLOSER!"
There's always one.
Storm chasers. They are all like that. My son had a teacher who was a storm chaser...they're all volunteers...and she and her husband were both just wild, extreme sports, genius, storm chaser people. They definitely are all the type of guys who would charge the gates of hell so they could report on it. But really, they're heroes, because they report all the information needed to predict the tornado.
Someone needs to be a hero.
@@Hollylivengood Reed Timmer is one of those people. He screams like crazy. Drives some mad. But he has most definitely saved countless lives across America. No question.
@@amyhunter5309 I think their all amazing. And who was that guy who reinforced a vehicle so he could purposefully drive into a tornado and stay there to study their anatomy. Amazing tank kind of thing he made, and it had hydraulic stabilizers. And that man calmly drove right into a tornado, jammed his stabilizers into the ground, and sat there reading off all the information his machine ticked out. I've been hunkered down during a tornado, and they are loud. Like painfully so. It isn't easy to stay calm during this ordeal. But he did, and all the information he collected is used for construction technology today. Keeping homes together in tornado alley.
Great reaction to a truly awful day. Amazing how the community and the nation pulled together to help people in the aftermath of that tragedy.
Awwwwe kitty sensed your distress during the officer being trapped in the tornado and wanted to comfort you! That cat deserves a treat.
This Tornado twisted the entire hospital 9 inches on the foundation.
That's been proven false. There's a documentary called "20 Minutes in May" that was created after all the data had been reviewed.
If I recall, the tornado started to lifted the hospital and then dropped it.
@contentedspirit9022 correct the top couple floors did twist a bit but not that much and not on the foundation
Absolutely insane 😢
I live in between Joplin and Carthage Missouri.. I remember that day and many days after!! Helped clean up after. Something I’ll never forget
It's long but "20 Minutes in May" talks about the immediate aftermath and longer term clean up from the Joplin event by the man who was in charge of that.
@ReckyandCarol, I was a first Responder when an EF5 destroyed Plainfield, IL.
The EF scale was created by a survivor of Hiroshima who immigrated to the USA. When he saw how Tornadoes destroy, he instantly associated it to Hiroshima. An EF5 does the same damage an airburst nuclear bomb does, just without radiation.
In my 50+yrs I've seen the level of tornado preparedness increase exponentially, especially since Joplin. We live in Missouri today. I actually chose our homesite so the topography on our land gives us protection from all but the worst Tornadoes.
I'm around Chicago. The Joplin tornado was BAD. I wish these horrible storms never existed.
UA-cam recommended this video. I decided to watch even though I’ve seen plenty of Joplin footage. I have to say this….
Carol, I love your precious heart. You’re a beautiful, empathetic woman. Recky, you’re a fine, logical man. I’m so glad I was introduced to your channel. I can’t wait to watch other videos. Thank you!
I do remember both Joplin as well as Moore. The one big problem with these is that they were rain-wrapped. You can’t really see it.
I was moved by your tears for people you didn't know. Bless you.
Of COURSE, I'm still here, y'all. I hope y'all watch the Tornado Alley - Real Time Tornado - Moore, Oklahoma one next - I had family who lost their home in that one.
You're right, Recky. I experienced my first tornado recently, and neighbors were checking on neighbors. Neighbors helping neighbors clean up. 100% truth to that. I'm surprised people from Sweden wouldn't do that. It's just what you do. Please give Carol a hug from me. ❤
EDIT: I forgot to mention that an overpass is where you DON'T want to be during a tornado. It makes the wind go faster when there is less room to pass through (example: putting a finger over the opening of a garden hose to make the water go faster - same concept)...just food for thought. The movie, "Twister (1996)," got that wrong, and unfortunately, people still do it.
Even watching a footage from inside buildings as it absolutely shreds them... it feels unreal somehow. The raw fury and power of a big tornado is just outside of our ability to really process.
I can't imagine the PTSD suffered by the people of Joplin, especially among children. In 2006 my Illinois town was hit. There were zero deaths but a swath of destruction about a mile from my home. I'm a pediatrician (retired) and saw a lot of kids afterwards who developed "storm anxieties" including my own young daughters. The eldest at 26 still gets fairly anxious. During storms I promptly head to my basement. I have no shame for being a wuss!
Your kitty clearly loves you and wanted to comfort you... So sweet!❤
I love how your sweet fur baby could sense your need for comfort. I live in the state of Alabama. Sadly we know all to well the effects of tornadoes and being so close to the Gulf waters we also have hurricanes to watch out for.
I've been a storm chaser here in Kansas for 11 years, Joplin was one of my first outbreaks that I ever chased. It was horrible. The inflow on that thing was INSANE. I hate chasing rain wrapped tornadoes (we call them HP or hih precipitation storms) are the worst because you can't see anything!
If you guys ever come to Kansas and want up ride along on a storm chase, I gotchu! Love your channel!❤
Of course we are still here at the half way mark.
I've seen this footage so many times but continue to watch it every time it crosses my path
Great video and commentary. This made me sweat and get a little queasy. We’ve had 3 tornadoes in my area in the last month with houses destroyed but not as big as the Joplin tornado and no loss of life. Makes us appreciate what we have and what we can help others with when storms like this happen. Looks like a very weather active summer here and I can say I haven’t see it like this ever in my 40 some years
Moa (closed captions spelled it "mua") is great. Love kitties, and their ability to sense and comfort. BTW, I started following the hospital's flickr account the week of this storm, and have watched them rebuild and recover. My mum is a retired nurse, and at the time lived about 40 mi east of Joplin, and know she volunteered a couple times to help after tornadoes in the area, including this one. She turns 90 next month, and has Alzheimer's, so her volunteering days are over.
Seeing how compassionate you are I think that you would be there for others going through this kind of disaster. I've lived through a few tornados, but nothing to this extent. And always there were helpers afterward.
Hi from Mississippi, USA! I really enjoy your storm videos because I think it's cool that you're curious about the weather and also about other parts of the world. I've watched a lot of storm videos before but watching your reactions are like watching with a neighbor. Please keep doing good work!
Of course, we're still here with you.
I grew up in Indiana, a state with many tornadoes. We prepped constantly for this.
That was so sweet to see Moa come to Carol when she needed her Moa could sense Carols emotions
my ❤ went out to the community as i witnessed the humanity that was evident after the tornado. i can only imagine the myriad of feelings these residents experienced. carol is a kind and soft hearted person...we should have more people like her. 💕
Carol, you look like you can't watch any more, but you can't look away. I know that feeling.