Tornado outbreak sequence of May 21–26, 2011
The tornado outbreak sequence of May 21–26, 2011 was one of the largest tornado outbreaks on record which affected the Midwestern and Southern regions of the United States. Most of the tornadoes developed in a corridor from Lake Superior southwest to central Texas; isolated tornadoes occurred in other areas. An especially destructive tornado destroyed one-third of Joplin, Missouri, resulting in 158 deaths and over 1,000 injuries. The Joplin tornado is the deadliest in the U.S. since April 9, 1947, when an intense tornado killed 181 in the Woodward, Oklahoma area. Tornado-related deaths also occurred in Arkansas, Kansas, Minnesota, and Oklahoma. Overall, the tornado outbreak resulted in 184 deaths, 6 of those non-tornadic, making it second only to the 2011 Super Outbreak as the deadliest since 1974, and the second costliest tornado outbreak in U.S. history behind that same April 2011 outbreak, with insured damage estimated at $4–7 billion.
Freeman Health System
Freeman's role in the aftermath of the 2011 Joplin tornado was crucial to the community, treating more than 1700 injured patients, more than half within the first day. The hospital only narrowly escaped the almost mile-wide path of complete destruction across the southern half of the city, being just six blocks south of the storm-ravaged St. John's Regional Medical Center (now known as Mercy Hospital Joplin). Freeman itself sustained some damage to its facilities, losing a portion of its roof. Following its competitor's relocation and reconstruction, the two hospitals are now more than a mile apart.