Tornado outbreak sequence of May 21–26, 2011
On May 22, a large, devastating EF5 tornado tracked through Joplin, Missouri, leaving behind catastrophic damage. It was a multiple-vortex tornado in excess of wide. Mainly the southern part of the city was affected with most structures in the area either damaged or destroyed. 162 people were killed along the path through Jasper and Newton counties in Missouri, making it the deadliest U.S. tornado since 1947, and one of the deadliest single tornadoes ever recorded. Among the most heavily damaged structures was St. John's Hospital (pictured right), which later was torn down due to the severity of the structural damage. Damages were estimated at around $2.8 billion (2011 USD).
Tornadoes of 1973
A small but significant tornado outbreak on March 31 produced its most severe damage in Georgia and South Carolina, though other tornadoes struck Missouri and Illinois. An extremely destructive, long-tracked tornado caused the costliest natural disaster in Georgia history up to that time, though officially it only produced F2 damage. A survey by Ted Fujita concluded that the tornado produced F4 damage and was two distinct events in a family, not a single tornado. At least two people died and 100 were injured in Georgia, mainly near Conyers and Athens, though Grazulis mentioned a third death that is not officially documented. An F4 tornado killed seven people, mostly in a motel, in the Calhoun Falls–Abbeville area of South Carolina, where it affected well over 100 homes and injured 30 people. At the time, Fujita assigned an F5 rating to the tornado in South Carolina, but it was later downgraded to F4.