2011 Joplin tornado
The 2011 Joplin tornado was a catastrophic EF5-rated multiple-vortex tornado that struck Joplin, Missouri, late in the afternoon of Sunday, May 22, 2011. It was part of a larger late-May tornado outbreak and reached a maximum width of nearly during its path through the southern part of the city. This particular tornado was unusual in that it intensified in strength and grew larger in size at a very fast rate. The tornado tracked eastward across the city, and then continued eastward across Interstate 44 into rural portions of Jasper County and Newton County. It was the third tornado to strike Joplin since May 1971.
1908 Dixie tornado outbreak
The 1908 Dixie tornado outbreak was a destructive tornado outbreak that affected portions of the Great Plains, the Midwest, and the Southern United States from April 23–25, 1908. The outbreak produced at least 29 tornadoes in 13 states, with a total of at least 324 tornado-related deaths. Of these deaths, 83% were caused by three tornadoes which have been posthumously rated violent F4s on the modern Fujita scale. These three tornadoes, each of them probably a tornado family, left a cumulative path length of at least and injured at least 1,358 people, yet caused only 84 of their deaths in cities: most of the deaths were in rural areas, often African American, and consequently may have been undercounted. One of the three deadliest tornadoes in the outbreak occurred on the same day, April 24, as that of the other two; reportedly attained a maximum width of at least or larger; and killed a minimum of 143 people along its path, at least 73 (51%) of them in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The 73 deaths made the tornado the third deadliest in Mississippi history, following the 1936 Tupelo F5, with 216 deaths, and the 1840 Natchez tornado (317 deaths).