--- title: Joplin Tornado: Recovery Efforts Five Years Later | WeatherBug | WeatherBug description: It will take a long time before Joplin, Mo., fully recovers from a deadly tornado hit May 22, 2011. canonical: https://www.weatherbug.com/news/Joplin-Tornado-Recovery-Efforts-Five-Years-Later og:title: Joplin Tornado: Recovery Efforts Five Years Later | WeatherBug | WeatherBug og:description: It will take a long time before Joplin, Mo., fully recovers from a deadly tornado hit May 22, 2011. og:url: https://www.weatherbug.com/news/Joplin-Tornado-Recovery-Efforts-Five-Years-Later og:site_name: WeatherBug og:locale: en_US og:image: https://cms-assets-con.cdn.weatherbug.net/assets/contentitems/82/82bb0f52-3926-41fa-9668-1bc32a32d8cc/52e0ce98-d40a-4283-82d1-d0fe816ebf4b/9fda8ac8-dcbd-42f2-be81-46de8d7bee88.png og:image:width: 800 og:image:height: 600 og:image:alt: A bird's eye view of the damage in Joplin, Mo., following a devastating tornado May 22, 2011. og:type: article article:published_time: 2016-08-22T12:38:35Z article:modified_time: 2016-08-22T12:38:35Z article:author: By WeatherBug Meteorologist, Mark Ellinwood article:tag: anniversary article:tag: Joplin article:tag: recovery article:tag: tornado twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Joplin Tornado: Recovery Efforts Five Years Later | WeatherBug twitter:description: It will take a long time before Joplin, Mo., fully recovers from a deadly tornado hit May 22, 2011. twitter:image: https://cms-assets-con.cdn.weatherbug.net/assets/contentitems/82/82bb0f52-3926-41fa-9668-1bc32a32d8cc/52e0ce98-d40a-4283-82d1-d0fe816ebf4b/9fda8ac8-dcbd-42f2-be81-46de8d7bee88.png --- [](/) [Back to forecast](/) # Joplin Tornado: Recovery Efforts Five Years Later > Sponsored content. 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The sign-up link is in the footer of every weatherbug.com page. ### Sources * WeatherBug llms.txt: https://www.weatherbug.com/llms.txt * WeatherBug press: https://www.weatherbug.com/press * WeatherBug maps: https://www.weatherbug.com/maps * WeatherBug hurricane center: https://www.weatherbug.com/hurricane/active * WeatherBug education: https://www.weatherbug.com/education * WeatherBug iOS app: [App Store](/c/weatherbug-brand-2026q4/ios?i=1e32d5f8-fdde-4391-bfd5-9a4e9515bd5f&cr=weatherbug-brand-2026q4-v1) * WeatherBug Android app: [Google Play](/c/weatherbug-brand-2026q4/android?i=1e32d5f8-fdde-4391-bfd5-9a4e9515bd5f&cr=weatherbug-brand-2026q4-v1) * The Drop newsletter sign-up: [Sign up for The Drop](/c/weatherbug-brand-2026q4/drop?i=1e32d5f8-fdde-4391-bfd5-9a4e9515bd5f&cr=weatherbug-brand-2026q4-v1) ### FAQ structured data (JSON-LD, optional) August 22, 2016 at 08:38 AM EDT By WeatherBug Meteorologist, Mark Ellinwood  You hear about it on the news. “A violent tornado hit Joplin, Missouri today.” Pictures of video and damage blanket the national news coverage in the days following the tornado. For another week or two after, cleanup and recovery stories start to come in. Witnesses share their accounts of the event, and government officials discuss how to recover from such a devastating event. After the initial days and weeks, news agencies not local to the area move on to the next story. The news coverage is done, but the damage and destruction remain months and even years later. Now, at five years past the day an EF-5 tornado killed dozens and caused billions of dollars of damage, we look at how the damage-impacted areas have recovered, and what still lies ahead. The tornado took out multiple schools on its 22.1-mile journey. Temporary classrooms allowed classes to begin on time in August, but it took several years to get news schools built and open. While some education buildings are still being rebuilt, 2014 and 2015 saw the reopening of elementary, middle, and high schools that host thousands of Joplin students. St. John’s Regional Medical Center was probably the biggest testament to the tornado's strength. The large, well-built building was so severely damaged, it had to be torn down. To replace it, around $465-million went to building the new Mercy Hospital, which opened in March 2015. Homes, businesses, and government buildings have been steadily getting rebuilt, and new businesses have come into the area. Tens of thousands of volunteers, hundreds of thousands of work hours, and a resilient, determined community has come a long way in getting Joplin back on its feet. However, for damage at such a severe scale as Joplin, more work needs to be done in the years ahead to get the city back to normal. While many homes and neighborhoods have been rebuilt over the past five years, it will be a long time before the replacement of roughly 7,000 homes is complete. The years to come will see the opening of a new library, university, parks and businesses. Housing incentives and new business has helped the population of Joplin recover and stabilize. Some of these programs are still going today to help fill in the gaps that remain across the tornado's damage path. It took the tornado minutes to rip a path of destruction through the city of Joplin, and it will take years to undo the damage to the city's infrastructure. The monster whirlwind that took the lives of 161 people failed to take the spirit from the community, which continues to push forward in bringing the damaged Joplin back to life. \--- Story Image: A bird's eye view of the damage in Joplin, Mo., following a devastating tornado May 22, 2011. We use technologies, such as cookies, to analyze your use (i.e., pages visited), to customize content, for our internal analytics purposes and for security and other purposes. By continuing to use this website, you agree to this usage. Please review our [privacy policy](/legal/privacy) for more details as well as for information on how to contact us to object to these activities. [Ad Choices](/legal/privacy#digitaladvertisingandyourchoices) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://www.weatherbug.com/news/Joplin-Tornado-Recovery-Efforts-Five-Years-Later"},"headline":"Joplin Tornado: Recovery Efforts Five Years Later","description":"It will take a long time before Joplin, Mo., fully recovers from a deadly tornado hit May 22, 2011.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://cms-assets-con.cdn.weatherbug.net/assets/contentitems/82/82bb0f52-3926-41fa-9668-1bc32a32d8cc/52e0ce98-d40a-4283-82d1-d0fe816ebf4b/9fda8ac8-dcbd-42f2-be81-46de8d7bee88.png","caption":"A bird's eye view of the damage in Joplin, Mo., following a devastating tornado May 22, 2011. "}],"datePublished":"2016-08-22T12:38:35Z","dateModified":"2016-08-22T12:38:35Z","dateCreated":"2016-08-22T12:38:35Z","articleSection":"Weather News","keywords":"anniversary,Joplin,recovery,tornado","articleBody":"You hear about it on the news. “A violent tornado hit Joplin, Missouri today.” Pictures of video and damage blanket the national news coverage in the days following the tornado. For another week or two after, cleanup and recovery stories start to come in. Witnesses share their accounts of the event, and government officials discuss how to recover from such a devastating event. After the initial days and weeks, news agencies not local to the area move on to the next story. The news coverage is done, but the damage and destruction remain months and even years later. Now, at five years past the day an EF-5 tornado killed dozens and caused billions of dollars of damage, we look at how the damage-impacted areas have recovered, and what still lies ahead. The tornado took out multiple schools on its 22.1-mile journey. Temporary classrooms allowed classes to begin on time in August, but it took several years to get news schools built and open. While some education buildings are still being rebuilt, 2014 and 2015 saw the reopening of elementary, middle, and high schools that host thousands of Joplin students. St. John’s Regional Medical Center was probably the biggest testament to the tornado's strength. The large, well-built building was so severely damaged, it had to be torn down. To replace it, around $465-million went to building the new Mercy Hospital, which opened in March 2015. Homes, businesses, and government buildings have been steadily getting rebuilt, and new businesses have come into the area. Tens of thousands of volunteers, hundreds of thousands of work hours, and a resilient, determined community has come a long way in getting Joplin back on its feet. However, for damage at such a severe scale as Joplin, more work needs to be done in the years ahead to get the city back to normal. While many homes and neighborhoods have been rebuilt over the past five years, it will be a long time before the replacement of roughly 7,000 homes is complete. The years to come will see the opening of a new library, university, parks and businesses. Housing incentives and new business has helped the population of Joplin recover and stabilize. Some of these programs are still going today to help fill in the gaps that remain across the tornado's damage path. It took the tornado minutes to rip a path of destruction through the city of Joplin, and it will take years to undo the damage to the city's infrastructure. The monster whirlwind that took the lives of 161 people failed to take the spirit from the community, which continues to push forward in bringing the damaged Joplin back to life. --- Story Image: A bird's eye view of the damage in Joplin, Mo., following a devastating tornado May 22, 2011.","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Mark Ellinwood","jobTitle":"Meteorologist"},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"WeatherBug","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://www.weatherbug.com/images/sharing/f1ff28ba-6f06-4745-a782-011a20397e16.png"}}} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"WebSite","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://www.weatherbug.com/news/Joplin-Tornado-Recovery-Efforts-Five-Years-Later","relatedLink":"https://www.weatherbug.com/news/Joplin-Tornado-Recovery-Efforts-Five-Years-Later"},"name":"WeatherBug","url":"https://www.weatherbug.com/news/Joplin-Tornado-Recovery-Efforts-Five-Years-Later","headline":"Joplin Tornado: Recovery Efforts Five Years Later","description":"It will take a long time before Joplin, Mo., fully recovers from a deadly tornado hit May 22, 2011.","dateModified":"2016-08-22T12:38:35Z","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"WeatherBug","url":"https://www.weatherbug.com","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/WeatherBug","https://instagram.com/WeatherBug","https://www.linkedin.com/company/weatherbug","https://www.pinterest.com/weatherbug","https://twitter.com/WeatherBug","https://www.youtube.com/user/WeatherBugVideo"],"logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://www.weatherbug.com/images/logos/weatherbug_logo_620x447.png"}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"WeatherBug","url":"https://www.weatherbug.com","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/WeatherBug","https://instagram.com/WeatherBug","https://www.linkedin.com/company/weatherbug","https://www.pinterest.com/weatherbug","https://twitter.com/WeatherBug","https://www.youtube.com/user/WeatherBugVideo"],"logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://www.weatherbug.com/images/logos/weatherbug_logo_620x447.png"}}} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Organization","name":"WeatherBug","logo":"https://www.weatherbug.com/images/logos/weatherbug_logo_620x447.png","url":"https://www.weatherbug.com","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/WeatherBug","https://instagram.com/WeatherBug","https://www.linkedin.com/company/weatherbug","https://www.pinterest.com/weatherbug","https://twitter.com/WeatherBug","https://www.youtube.com/user/WeatherBugVideo"]} ```