A timeline for the 2011 Joplin EF5 tornado, (National Weather Service, Courtesy)
GRAND ISLAND — The City of Grand Island’s Emergency Management Department held its annual “March Madness” emergency exercise and this year utilized the track of the devastating EF-5 tornado that struck Joplin, Mo. in 2011.
The exercise was held on Thursday, March 19, simultaneously during the Nebraska game against Troy during the NCAA Men’s basketball tournament.
Jon Rosenlund, Grand Island/Hall County Emergency Management Director, said each year they simulate a different disaster.
They have simulated the Marshall Fire, a destructive wildfire and urban conflagration that occurred in 2021 in Boulder County, Colo., and the Minot train derailment that occurred in North Dakota in 2002 and spread ammonia gas across the city.
This year the disaster simulated was the EF-5 tornado that struck the city of Joplin, Mo., during the early evening hours of Sunday, May 22, 2011, and caused catastrophic damage to the city and surrounding region.
The tornado took 20 minutes to cross the lower one-third of Joplin and was on the ground for around 22 miles. The damage from the tornado generated three million cubic yards of debris. For reference, Ground Zero after the 9/11 terrorist attacks generated 600,000 cubic yards of debris.
Areas were covered in 10-12 feet of debris in an area six miles long and three quarters of a mile wide.
The tornado killed 161 people and over 1,000 were injured.
The Joplin tornado is the single costliest tornado in United States history, the damage was estimated to be $2.8 billion, equivalent to around $4 billion today.
Rosenlund said that Joplin and Grand Island in several ways are peer communities, with both being a regional hub and roughly the same population. In 2010, Joplin’s population was 50,150, Grand Island’s current population is 53,131.
For the exercise, Rosenlund laid over the damaged path of the EF-5 tornado over the map of Grand Island and simulated it tracking along the Highway 30 corridor. They utilized Geographic Information System (GIS) to find the 8,000 addresses that were impacted as a part of the exercise.
They also rendered one hospital inoperable and one damaged but still able to be utilized, which was similar to what happened in the Joplin case.
Joplin’s St. John’s Hospital was impacted by the tornado and the top several floors were twisted slightly off center. This compromised the rest of the structure, which was later demolished.
Rosenlund said the exercise helped his local jurisdiction to understand the magnitude of the disaster that occurred in Joplin.
“The scenario challenged first responders, city staff, healthcare partners and regional agencies to respond to widespread damage, mass casualties and critical infrastructure disruptions,” per a press release from the City of Grand Island.
The incident was the subject of an initial tabletop exercise that was held in February, and the functional exercise was held in March. During the tabletop exercise, Rosenlund said they realized they would utilize incident command in an advanced way.
What was found was that it was best to have three separate incident commands based on public works, utilities and law enforcement. Rosenlund said that each area is so specialized that rather than have one unified command, it was beneficial to have three separate ones focused on their area of expertise.
“This type of training is critical to ensuring we are prepared for the worst while hoping for the best,” Rosenlund said. “By simulating a disaster of this magnitude, we’re able to identify strengths, improve coordination and ultimately better protect our community.”
Participants worked through realistic scenarios including search and rescue operations, emergency sheltering, debris management and public information coordination.
Grand Island isn’t a stranger to tornado impacts, on June 3, 1980, the community was impacted by seven tornadoes that killed five people and injured 200. The damage was estimated to be more than $285 million, estimated to be $1.02 billion today.
Rosenlund noted that the 1980 tornadoes and Joplin tornado impacts differ greatly. In 1980, multiple tornadoes were on the ground simultaneously with shorter paths; in Joplin a single tornado with wind speeds over 200 mph directly impacted a metropolitan area.
By utilizing other incidents, Rosenlund said they are able to learn different lessons, “if it can happen in Joplin, it can happen here,” he said. He also noted that many people still have firsthand experience from the 1980 Grand Island tornadoes.
Rosenlund said the exercise reveals the types of decisions that were required at the time. It also shows the need for effective leadership, how public information should be provided and how to manage resources, some of them scarce, in an effective way.
He also noted that pairing the exercise with March Madness provided a little bit of fun and excitement during serious training. He added it also didn’t hurt that Nebraska won.
Joplin Impacts – A Deeper Dive
Keith Stammer, the Emergency Management Director for Joplin/Jasper County, Mo. spoke during a 2015 event about the response to the Joplin EF-5 tornado.
It was noted that 95 percent of the primary and secondary streets in the damage path were impassable after the storm passed. In 36 hours, 110 public work employees from Joplin and surrounding communities had cleared 100 percent of the primary streets and 70 percent of the secondary streets.
The first job of Joplin’s Public Works division was to clear the streets in the damaged area. Stammer was asked when giving a presentation to a Texas community about how Joplin officials conducted search and rescue operations in the streets, he simply replied, “We cleared the streets.”
The implication being, anyone caught outside during the tornado on the streets did not survive.
The Missouri National Guard was asked to come to the scene armed, with the goal of cutting down on looting. Only around 100 instances of looting took place, mostly people who were not Joplin natives.
Stammer recalled a citizen complaining that a tornado siren was shut off while the EF-5 was moving through the community. Stammer said it wasn’t turned off on purpose, it was directly impacted by the tornado and the 400-pound piece of equipment was never located.
There were 10 school buildings that were impacted by the tornado and six were totally destroyed. 7,500 residences were damaged and 4,000 were completely destroyed and needed to be demolished.
Around 9,200 people who were displaced from their homes and 17,000 residents affected in some way by the tornado. There were 553 businesses that were destroyed or damaged. Around 7,600 vehicles were destroyed based on insurance claims.
The tornado struck on Sunday evening and the last live person found in the rubble was on Tuesday afternoon.
Six full sweeps of the damaged area were made for survivors or the remains of those killed. Divers were brought in and searched every body of water in the near area, there were bodies and vehicles located in the water.
President Barack Obama toured the community on May 29, flying into Joplin Regional Airport and speaking at a memorial at the Taylor Performing Arts Center at Missouri Southern State University about two miles north of the worst of the devastation.
