Overview
- On May 22, 2011, an EF‑5 tornado with winds over 200 mph carved a path more than a mile wide through Joplin, Missouri, killing roughly 158–161 people and injuring over 1,000.
- The storm damaged about 75% of the city, destroyed thousands of homes and key institutions, and caused nearly $2.8–3 billion in losses, making it one of the costliest U.S. tornadoes on record.
- A National Weather Service service assessment found many fatalities occurred in poorly built homes and in diverse locations such as a nursing home, an ICU, churches and a Home Depot, and it identified widespread delays in taking shelter after sirens sounded.
- Doctors later documented an unusual medical hazard when soil‑dwelling mucormycetes fungal spores embedded in deep, penetrating wounds; a 2013 study linked 13 such infections to the tornado and reported five deaths.
- The city has largely rebuilt — including a new hospital, schools and a park on the former St. John’s site — and the disaster spurred nationwide adoption of impact‑based warnings and wireless emergency alerts, changing how communities receive and act on tornado warnings.