Emergency communication system
161 people were killed and at least 990 injured when an EF5 multiple-vortex tornado hit Joplin, Missouri. Because Joplin is located in a tornado-heavy area of the country, many people considered the tornado sirens routine and ignored them. Instead, many residents waited until they received confirmation from another, non-routine, source, such as seeing the tornado, a radio or TV report, or hearing a second siren. In the aftermath, an assessment team recommended that emergency warnings take risk perception into account to convey a sense of urgency. NOAA Officials are considering ways to change the warning system to distinguish smaller tornadoes from more deadly ones.
Tornado outbreak of May 18–21, 2013
Taking a path through the heart of Moore, an estimated 13,500 people were directly affected by the tornado. Large swaths of the city were completely destroyed and unofficial estimates placed the number of severely damaged or destroyed buildings at 1,500 with another 4,000 affected. In contrast to the violent nature of the tornado, the death toll was relatively low. A total of 24 people lost their lives, nine of whom were children, and over 300 were injured. This ranks it as the ninth-deadliest tornado in the state's history. The lack of further fatalities was attributed to a 16-minute lead time on the Moore tornado given by the National Weather Service forecast office in Norman. Risk Management Solutions Inc. estimated that the insurance payout from the tornado would amount to $2–3.5 billion, stating that the event was worse than the 1999 Bridge Creek–Moore tornado and may rival the 2011 Joplin tornado.