2415 S. Moffet Ave.
Last week, Bishop James Johnston of the Catholic Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau surveyed the loss. St. Mary’s Catholic Church, the rectory, the parish center, the adjacent Catholic elementary school, even the nearby frame house that served as the original church more than 70 years ago — all were destroyed.
Steel was twisted into a mass of metal and insulation that looked like a Brillo pad.
According to Johnston, the school lost members of one family — a father and his two daughters who took refuge in the Home Depot on Range Line Road. They were members of St. Peter the Apostle Catholic Church, he said.
But the large iron cross — which has withstood previous tornadoes — was still towering above the fields of debris, becoming a much-photographed icon.
Johnston said he had been contacted by bishops of other dioceses offering prayers and assistance, but it was a call from the bishop of Birmingham, Ala., that stood out. They went through something similar weeks before. His brother bishop was sharing everything he had learned.
Johnston said he was moved by the outpouring of support.
“We’re grateful, just like everyone in the Joplin community, for the goodness of people.”
300 Block of east 22nd street
Not long after the storm, Kent Gilbreth stood in the street in front of the shattered remnants of his father’s home, his blue eyes fixed in what combat veterans describe as the “thousand-yard stare.”
This is the neighborhood that his father had lived in for 40 years.
Gilbreth took shelter in the corner of his father’s basement as the tornado plowed through the neighborhood.
“It sounded like a huge train,” he said. “I saw a black wall and got down to the basement just before it hit. I felt the suction and thought (I was) getting sucked out for a second. I got glass stuck everywhere.”
As the father and son loaded what few possessions they could salvage into the bed of a truck, Gilbreth was unsure of their next move.
“We’ll just take it one day at a time,” he said.
2104 Indiana Ave.
Looking east from the Gilbreth home, much of the tornado’s path spreads open in a vista of complete destruction. The remains of Joplin High School and the nearby Franklin Tech Center are evident. It would be easy to believe that the buildings had been the target of an airstrike. The complete destruction of four schools and damage to six other buildings brought Superintendent C.J. Huff to the edge of tears in a press conference Tuesday.
As the week progressed, Huff already was rolling out plans for summer school — a chance for children to return to something routine — and vowing that school would begin as planned on Aug. 17.
The destruction to the district was estimated at $100 million. Huff said the district’s reconstruction plan hinges on the degree to which Joplin suffers from what he termed “the Katrina effect,” meaning the number of children whose families, with nowhere to live and no jobs left, simply up and leave.
“The big question is how many kids we’re going to have coming back this fall,” he said.
2300 block of South Wisconsin
Jennifer and Danny Moore and their two children said they felt lucky to be alive as they retrieved belongings from their flattened home. Danny and his daughter were returning from a trip to the Home Depot when the city’s tornado sirens sounded for the second time.
“It was just pitch black and there was debris flying, but I didn’t know what it was because this is the first tornado I’ve lived through,” Danny said.
But his wife knew the danger that was closing in.
“My husband and daughter were just pulling up in the drive and I looked over and saw it and had enough time to grab (the kids) and throw them in the bathtub and we laid down on top of them,” Jennifer said. “And then it started sucking us up and we just gripped the tub and held on and we thought we were through it because it calmed and you looked up and saw clear and the next thing you know, you saw it coming again.
“(Danny) was getting ready to get up and I said, ‘No, we’ve got to lay back down because that’s the eye of it.’”
Buried under debris, the family was freed by a neighbor. They then joined the effort to free others.
Jennifer was unsure whether the family would be willing to return to their neighborhood.
“We haven’t decided whether we’re going to stay here or not. I mean, I know we’re going to stay here in Joplin or Asbury cause that’s where all of our family is. Insurance will hopefully pay off and rebuild it, but I don’t know if we could ever come back. It’s kind of too much.”
2021 Hampshire Terrace
Rebecca Wilkinson stood in front of the remains of her apartment building. She stared at her home in dazed disbelief a day after she and her daughter rode out the tornado, like many others, in the bathroom.
“I got a call from my mother and she said to take cover, so I grabbed a blanket and headed to the bathroom,” she said. “By the time I shut the door, it hit.”
Wilkinson huddled with her young daughter as her apartment collapsed. The two were saved from the crushing weight of debris by her toilet and sink. As she and her daughter laid under the rubble following the tornado, she could hear her terrified neighbors cry for help.
“All I could hear were screams.”
Eventually, rescuers got to them.
“I handed my daughter out through a hole, and then an elderly gentleman came and pulled me out.”
3110 E. 20th St.
Home Depot was no match for the full fury of the EF-5, its winds spinning in excess of 200 miles per hour.
Seven people were killed when the store was hit.
Throughout much of the week, urban search and rescue crews looked for survivors with concrete saws, jackhammers, rescue dogs and fiber-optic cameras that snaked into dark spaces and under large concrete slabs that comprised the store’s front wall.
Rescue efforts were hampered by heavy rain showers early in the week. According to rescuers, rain washes away the scent left by survivors and makes it difficult for dogs. Despite the adverse conditions, the crews pressed on.
After getting the call Sunday evening, the rescue team was on the road within an hour. They arrived in Joplin after midnight and went to work at 3 a.m. After searching for nearly 15 hours, the exhausted team was forced to rest. According to team leader Doug Westhoff, the Joplin tornado is one of the worst disasters the unit has seen.
“This is a devastating event,” he said. “We’ve been to the World Trade Center, Hurricane Katrina twice, and Hurricane Ike. This is a significant weather event. This is Mother Nature telling us who’s in charge.”
Duquesne
The village of Duquesne was next in line. The tornado destroyed more than 250 homes, 50 of Duquesne’s 100 businesses, and killed at least eight people. Police Chief Tommy Kitch said 60 to 70 percent of the village is gone.
Pinned to the wall inside Duquesne City Hall is a large aerial photograph detailing the path of destruction through the village.
Duquesne’s mayor, Denny White, remains pragmatic about the village’s future.
“Some of these people will rebuild, some of them won’t, but those that don’t will sell their lots and someone else will buy. In a period of three to five years, we’ll build it all back.”
3425 Jaguar Road
By the time the storm reached the rural home of Randy and Cindy Wagner, the couple had had ample warning and time to get their family into a crawl space.
Wagner pulled a 150-pound concrete cover closed as the tornado approached. As the storm passed over, it pulled the heavy door off and flung it into the yard causing the family to crawl further under the house. Randy said he could feel the tornado sucking him out the opening. He braced himself against the foundation and held on to his home’s floor joists. After the storm had passed he crawled out and viewed the damage. Although he lost more than 20 majestic oak trees, and suffered extensive roof, fence, window and landscaping damage, Wagner considers himself lucky. His immediate and extended family are safe, his home is insured, and he has already received help from friends and family.
“We’re very fortunate and we are praying for the people in Joplin because we know they lost everything.”
Kodiak road
Just before 5:50 p.m., the tornado lifted off.
Six thousand to 8,000 structures.
Three hundred businesses.
Four thousand jobs.
More than 1,150 injured, 142 lives lost.
And counting.
The fist had done its work.
It took less than 20 minutes.
Along tornado?s path, victims recall trauma, wonder about future Local News The Joplin Globe, Joplin, MO