I received this email update today from Rob O'Brian, president of the Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce:

Good morning, Mick.

Thanks for reaching out by phone. It was a hectic couple of weeks. We do appreciate you putting the Biz Recovery Fund on your website. Let me bring you up to date.

First, our thanks to our many fellow Chambers who have reached out to us during this time. Many have offered concrete guidance based on their own experience that has helped us begin to set a road to recovery for our community and members. Many also indicated they are doing fund-raising with their own members to help Joplin. Thanks so much for that.

Let me take just a moment to give you the impact of this storm. The tornado, according to the National Weather Service, had a track of around 20 miles. About 8 miles of that was EF4* and EF5*, mostly 5. And of course that entire 8 miles was through Joplin and our neighboring community of Duquesne. (*EF is an abbreviation for the Enhanced Fujuita scale, which rates tornadoes based on the amount of damage they cause. The six-step  scale ranges from EF0 to EF5, with EF5 tornadoes having winds exceeding 200 mph; EF4 winds range from 166-200 mph.)

More than 140 of our family members, friends and neighbors were killed, the largest single tornado death toll in more than 60 years.

More than 1,000 were injured. The storm destroyed nearly 7,000 housing units, about 30% of the total, and displaced more than 12,000 people. The high school, one new middle school, two elementary schools and the trade school were destroyed. Several other schools were damaged. More than 450 businesses were directly impacted by the storm, including one of our largest, St. Johns Medical Center, as well as many small businesses. These companies collectively employ about 4,500 people. Hundreds of other firms have, or will have, long-term economic impact from the storm. That’s the bad news.

On the good side, the storm’s path was about 15% of the geography of Joplin. It missed the downtown, where public safety services are based. Consequently, the city was able to quickly mount rescue efforts. We have a number of communities that surround us, and they immediately sent aid. Hundreds of volunteers flooded the area to help. This quick action saved scores of lives.

The University was untouched and became the staging area for the thousands of volunteers from many communities who rushed to our aid. Most of the retailers were not damaged and able to function for groceries, clothing and building materials. In the days following the tornado, my team had personal contact, sometimes standing in the rubble and sometimes on the phone, with nearly 400 of the firms wrecked by the storm (almost 200 of them Chamber members, nearly 20% of our total). All but two indicated they would rebuild. That is a great statement of faith in our future. The two large “big box” stores that were hit, Wal-Mart and Home Depot are already clearing the sites. St. Johns will also rebuild.

We are thankful for the great outpouring of volunteerism, of food, water and so much else. I can say the attitude here is actually quite positive and our citizens are upbeat and ready to rebuild as fast as possible.

I know, Mick, that many Chambers and businesses around the country want to know how they can help. We appreciate that. To help our business recovery efforts, we have our Business Recovery Fund on our website: joplincc.com. There’s a “donate” button at the top of the page and a link to rebuildjoplin.org on the right side of the page where people affected by the tornado can state their needs, and those willing to contribute money, resources or volunteer time can do so. On that page are recovery funds for the schools, for social service agencies and for residents.

Again, thank you and all of our Chamber friends and colleagues for your thoughts and prayers. Best to you all.

Rob

Rob O'Brian, CEcD
President
Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce
320 E. 4th Street
Joplin, MO 64801
417.624.4150 (o)
417.438.0100 (m)
417.624.4303 (f)
robrian@joplincc.com
U.S. Chamber of Commerce 5-Star Accreditation