(MORE: April 2011 Tornado Super Outbreak: 17 Things That Shocked Us Most) Then they climbed atop the makeshift protective cover for added weight. Lindquist and a co-worker at the group home known as Community Group Services scrambled as the twister bore down to place mattresses atop three middle-aged men with Down syndrome. He was impaled on a piece of metal, broke every rib in his body and lost most of his teeth. The tornado threw Mark Lindquist more than half a block, burying him a pile of rubble. "Time passes, and you just look for the good in things," Mark Norton says. Freeman Hospital and its Ozark Center counseling arm has "Will's Place," a treatment site for children with mental health or behavioral issues.Īnd there's now a website, "The Will Wall," where people can post their gratitude for others who had an impact on them. Joplin now has "Will Norton Miracle Field," a baseball park for children with special needs. "I go to the cemetery once or twice a week, but it's not the same as being in his room." "It's a little comfort to go in there, go back in time and remember how it was," Norton said. Will's room remains the way he left it, with an open pack of chewing gum, his trademark mismatched socks, his computer and the green screen that helped earn him a YouTube following for his travel chronicles. Norton's body was found five days later in a pond.įive years later, his father says it's almost as if his son never left. Here are stories about some of the victims and survivors, and the city's recovery:Īs his father desperately held his legs, 18-year-old Will Norton was sucked out of his family's SUV through the sunroof as they drove home from his graduation. (MORE: Before and After Imagery of Joplin, Missouri, Five Years After the May 22, 2011, EF5 Tornado) The storm was eventually blamed for 161 deaths. Then, as storm sirens blared, one of the nation's deadliest tornados hit - leveling a miles-long swath of Joplin on May 22, 2011. About 10 miles away, the county coroner, Rob Chappel, was at home.įorecasters knew the storm's potential was fierce and gave early warnings. Liz Easton was watering plants in her yard while Mark Lindquist was tending to residents of the group home where he worked. Will Norton was among 400 graduates of Joplin High School emerging from their commencement ceremony. A sky-darkening storm was working its way into southwest Missouri around dinnertime on a Sunday evening, zeroing in on the city of Joplin.
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