JOPLIN, MO, Tornado, 22 May 2011

Joplin tornado 22 May 2011. The last minute before the monster tornado struck Trying to get gasoline for the V8, petrol station closed and on tornado alert so we needed to reposition for the storm very quickly. I heard that the girl at the Sonoco gas station, North in town is ok. We were being chased by the tornado instead of chasing the tornado, while on the 171 coming into town from the Northwards direction. Less than 500 meters was between us and this EF 5 tornado. managed to get on the interstate just on time with seconds to go. Tour 3 SLT ( Silver Lining Tours ) We crossed this tornado path twice, even on the interstate just less than 1 minute before the tornado crossed and flipped over the semi trucks. You can clearly see lights flicker and go out as the tornado takes out power lines in it's path. It was interesting to note that many drivers on the road were completely oblivious to the sirens, and were driving and texting on their cellphones instead of observing the approaching tornado and trying to get out of it's path. Most of us felt sick after wards, but it actually sank in a few hours / days later as we really had no idea what actually was happening in Joplin.