Approaching: 15th Anniversary of the Horrific Joplin Tornado

For most of its life, the EF-5 Joplin Tornado was invisible. 
Photographer Jaime Green got this fortuitous shot when the funnel was illuminated 
for a split second by a power flash. 

Ten days from today, Joplin, MO will commemorate the 15th anniversary of the worst tornado (in terms of deaths) since the tornado warning system began in 1957. On May 22, 2011, the warning system failed the people of Joplin and 161 people died. 

St. John Mercy Medical Center after the tornado. Fifteen people died there because 
hospital staff that I interviewed weren't aware a tornado was approaching 
until six minutes before it arrived. Photo from Wikipedia. 

I tell the true story of what happened and what went wrong in When the Sirens Were Silent. 

Amazon's AI-generated review:

Customers find this book informative and well-written, with one review noting how it explains technical terms clearly. Moreover, the story receives positive feedback, with one customer mentioning it contains personal stories of people directly involved. Additionally, customers appreciate its readability, with one review highlighting how it makes complex concepts understandable. The book's accuracy is praised, with one customer noting its spot-on timeline and reporting of warnings. However, customers disagree on the book's length, with one wishing it was longer.

In a way, the Joplin Tornado validated the warning system: if the warnings fail, we immediately return to triple-digit fatalities. As a Goodreads reviewer, who had relatives in the storm, wrote:

Alarmingly, many of the things which failed that Sunday afternoon have not been repaired. 

The print version of the book sold out very quickly. You can read the e-version for the bargain price of just $2.99. Just go to the purple link, above. 

We must repair the issues the surfaced during the Joplin Tornado before another tornado strikes a major metropolitan area.