National Geographic - Witness Disaster (2012) Part 3 Joplin Tornado

National Geographic presents dramatic images and stories and takes you to the front-line to witness some of the worst natural disasters around the world. Eyewitness accounts and never-before-seen footage reveal the devastation and tragedy caused by deadly earthquake and tsunami, and see what happens inside the heart of a whirling tornado. 'Witness Disaster' uses a range of footage to capture natural disasters as they happen. We use amateur footage, photographs, news reports, raw documentary shots and CCTV footage to piece together the story of each event in a unique and compelling style. Our footage is supported by interviews with those who actually experienced the disaster. They tell the story of what happened, as it happened, from a first hand perspective. These interviews, alongside the footage, allow the viewer to be drawn into the event and gauge what it was like to actually experience it. We use very limited narration, so our stories are told purely through the film that we have gathered and the voice of our interviewees.

Part 3 Joplin Tornado

April 2011 was the most violent month of tornados in history. From Texas to New York, more than 700 twisters touched down that month, killing over 300 people. The weeks that followed, however, saw a break in the pattern of severe weather; the worst, it seemed, was over. Then came Sunday, May 22nd. That afternoon, just after 500 p.m., the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for Joplin, Missouri. The day was sunny and the weather calm, so many in Joplin paid little heed to the sirens they so frequently hear in springtime. By the time they realized what was happening, it was too late—an EF-5 tornado packing winds of 200 miles an hour was carving a mile-wide path through the center of the city. The tornado sheared off two floors of the city's main hospital, demolished dozens of businesses and churches, and rendered whole neighborhoods unrecognizable. In the end, the storm would leave 161 dead and more than a thousand injured. Weaving together dozens of professional and amateur archival sources, along with dramatic interviews with the people behind the cameras, Witness Joplin Tornado reconstructs the deadliest twister in modern times, through the eyes of those who lived through it. In doing so, it serves as both a visceral, you-are-there account of nature's wrath at its most ferocious, and a powerful testament to the spirit of the people of Joplin.

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