CHICAGO (NewsNation Now) — It’s been 10 years since the city of Joplin, Missouri experienced one of the deadliest tornadoes in U.S. history, but the mayor says the city is still recovering from the devastation.
“We still have parts of our town that are still slabs that were left from 10 years ago,” said Ryan Stanley, who joined “NewsNation Prime” on Thursday.
On May, 22, 2011, the city of Joplin was ripped apart by a monstrous tornado that spanned up to three-quarters of a mile wide and packed winds of more than 200 mph. The devastating EF-5 tornado killed 158 people. Stanley said the town didn’t know the storm was coming until it was too late.
“When the sirens blew, you know, half the town didn’t realize that what was happening, the other half, the town was getting devastated. I was on the north side of town, and so didn’t quite know the devastation until … we found out you know, very quickly, how severe it was.”
After the tornado, much of the city was leveled. The economic losses totaled almost $2 billion dollars. Stanley said the rebuilding process took years, but they got plenty of help from the government and donors.
“FEMA was a great blessing to us. Our state emergency, SEMA, was a great blessing to us, the HUD and the community development block grants. All of the dollars that came in not only from the government but also the donors as well.”
Stanley said the city is now thriving, financially and economically.
“We have brand new hospitals, built a brand new medical school here … and so this is kind of an evolutionary process.”
Stanley noted that the progress was all due to a solid rebuilding plan.
“We’ve executed, you know, many of those suggests required like hurricane straps on all new structures. It’s now strongly encouraging and most houses will have tornado shelters built into them. Our town has not only adopted those encouraging strategies but also on top of that, have been trying to pay it forward to other affected towns, to help them learn from our lessons.”
The 2011 Joplin tornado sounds very similar to the devastation going on right now in Kentucky. The devastating tornadoes that ripped through much of the Midwest and Mid-South last week killed at least 85 people in the Bluegrass state alone.
Stanley said he hopes Joplin’s rebuild will give others hope.
“My heart was going out to these families and in these communities and just kind of in their shoes, knowing what they’re going through right now. My only comfort to them is number one, we’re praying for you. We’re thinking about you but also it does get better. There are silver linings to this storm cloud, you will rebuild, you will rebuild bigger and better and stronger than you were before. The hearts of the nation are reaching out to you right now and that’s a good feeling to feel that support.”
