Mission Joplin: Seeing Tornado Damage Firsthand Is Different
FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - If first impressions mean anything, you would never guess while driving into Joplin, Missouri, that one third of the city had been wiped out by a deadly tornado.
From Interstate-44, drivers can see businesses are open and houses are intact. But, you only have to travel about one mile off the interstate to see the destruction left by an EF-5 tornado.
"I expect to see a lot of rubble. A lot of people asking for help," said Hannah Fowler of Bedford. "Probably something worse than what I'm expecting," echoed Euless resident Ashley Wall.
Coming in to town, the church vans were buzzing with teens talking. Others were playing games on smart phones and computers.
Looking from the interstate, you can see hints the city is dealing with a disaster. There are business signs promising to rebuild in Joplin. Empty dumpsters are lined up in vacant lots, ready to be filled with broken wood and shattered glass. Then you travel down one of the main streets and it suddenly hits you.
On one block everything is normal, but in the next block, there are businesses that have no roof. In the same line of site, houses are missing their foundations and the landscape is dotted with bent and twisted trees with no leaves.
The fun and chatter in the van quickly turn into silence. Adults and teens alike stared silently at the destruction that remains five weeks after the storm that claimed 158 lives. It's the deadliest single tornado since the National Weather Service began keeping records in 1950.
After getting a glimpse of the task ahead, the small army of North Texans will get their assignments and soon help with the cleanup and delivering supplies.
Mackenzi Stevens of Bedford says, "I want to go and help make Joplin a better place".
Besides North Texas, the group ran into other volunteers from Oklahoma, Indiana and as far away as Wyoming. They all have one goal in mind: help Joplin and her residents get back on their feet.
Fort Worth resident Megan Williams isn't intimidated by the task at hand. "I expect to see a lot of debris and damage, but we'll still be able to make some progress."
(Note: Stewart McKenzie is the 6:00 p.m. producer for CBS 11 News. He is part of a local volunteer group traveling to Joplin this week to help with the relief efforts. While helping with those efforts, he will also provide reports on the work that is underway and the people of Joplin who are recovering from a killer tornado.)