May 23, 2011 11:07 AM

Terrifying first person video of Joplin, Mo. tornado

By
Bailey Johnson
Topics
Viral Video

Updated May 25, 2011 9:34 EDT

(CBS) - The devastating tornado that ripped through the city of Joplin, Missouri left at least 124 people dead. In the wake of this tragedy, the first videos are emerging from survivors of the twister. This chilling video provides the first person view of residents who hid out in the back of a convenience store. The audio in this clip is intense, terrifying and perfectly captures the power and fury of the Joplin tornado.

Joplin, Mo. Slammed by twister

YouTube user "izelsg" posted this description of the video:

"The video I took while at Fastrip on east 20th street. We huddled in the back of the store until the glass got sucked out, then ran into the walk in storage fridge. Sorry for the lack of visuals but the audio is pretty telling of how intense the storm was. The tornado hits at around 1:20 seconds."

"Intense" doesn't even come close. Our heart goes out to all the survivors and victims of this massive tragedy.

CBS News correspondent Don Teague reports on the continuing search and rescue effort.


Add a Comment See all 21 Comments
by bflammerjr May 24, 2011 2:19 PM EDT
I would just like to say, me and my wife watched this unbelievable video, and as we did we cried, and prayed for all the people in this video, and for all the people of Joplin, MO , I have been through an f5 tornado myself in Laplata, Md years ago, but I did not endure what the people in this video had too.God Bless All Of You, we love you all. And to the people in that store, you did everything you could, and all of you are Hero's in my heart for saving each other, and protecting all those Kids..This is why America is great, no matter whether we know one another we always band together and try and protect one another no matter what..once again God Bless All Of You..
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by noloyalisti May 23, 2011 4:22 PM EDT
I wonder if the believers are ready to accept science instead of their Christian superstitions. If these people don't keep wasting energy in the American way, these types of disasters are going to get more frequent and far, far worse. Even if we stop now it is going to happen for a long time due to the lag.
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by bbktx11 May 23, 2011 5:33 PM EDT
Really? Because wasting energy causes tornadoes? Please explain. And I feel sorry for atheist and scientists because at least Christians have something to look forward to!!!
by mon_kie May 23, 2011 6:52 PM EDT
I have something to look forward too, like the rest of my real life here on earth.
Maybe, after I die, the Easter Bunny, Santa Clause and the Tooth Fairy will lift me up to fantasyland in the sky.
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by mrnadir May 23, 2011 4:18 PM EDT
Next time some builder tells you that you cant have a basement in the house, tell him to "shove it". There is really no reason why the houses in most of tornado alley dont have any basements. There should be a requirement in the building codes to have at least a 10x10 ventilated basement.
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by Holte May 23, 2011 8:42 PM EDT
That's what I think everytime I hear of these tornados destroying homes in tornado alley. Why no basements??!
by cbsryan May 23, 2011 2:45 PM EDT
That woman calling out "Heavenly Father" and "Jesus" really got to me. Thank God for believers. Also touching, was that young man saying, "I love you all." Really makes you take a step back and re-evaluate how you're treating those close to you.
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by annanwilliams May 24, 2011 12:01 AM EDT
Yeah, I completely agree. Love is the most important thing and in this video that was evident.
by j_mcdonald-2009 May 24, 2011 1:57 AM EDT
Huh. My reaction was incredible annoyance. The last thing I want in a situation such as that is someone ranting and possibly making it harder for others to communicate.

That said, I can't blame her -- it's clearly just how she was raised.
by PourpaixPourpaix May 23, 2011 2:44 PM EDT
"perfectly captures the power and fury of the Joplin tornado"

Not to diminish the catastrophe that a few poor souls had to go through, but the video is just a dozen folks screaming in the dark. It shows nothing of the tornado itself. Must have been terrifying if you were there, though.
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by ramv36 May 23, 2011 9:16 PM EDT
Well, I have yet to see a 'we actually went through the tornado' video that HAD video....all of them (that survived) are just the audio, and MAYBE some video of people huddling together for protection.
I wouldn't be surprised if there was a standing reward for a direct-hit tornado video which shows the actual inside of a tornado, taken by a survivor.
by kr1000 May 23, 2011 10:13 PM EDT
People who want to see video taken by someone "inside a tornado" will have to first find the camera and then hope it still works. The person that held it would most likely be ripped to shreds. These lucky people were inside a freezer and were probably not in the highest velocity vortex and it was bad enough to go through what they did!
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