DisastersNIST issues final Joplin tornado report

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has released the final report on its technical investigation into the impacts of the 22 May 2011 tornado that struck Joplin, Missouri.

NIST says that the final report is strengthened by clarifications and supplemental text suggested by organizations and individuals from across the nation in response to the request for comments on the draft Joplin report, released 21 November 2013.

The revisions did not alter the investigation team’s major findings or its sixteen recommendations, highlighted by NIST’s call for nationally accepted standards for building design and construction, public shelters, and emergency communications that can significantly reduce deaths and the steep economic costs of property damage caused by tornadoes.

NIST says it will now work with the appropriate code development organizations to use the study’s recommendations to improve model building codes and lay the foundation for nationally accepted standards. NIST also will work with organizations representing state and local governments — including building officials — to encourage them to consider implementing its recommendations.

These include calls to develop and adopt:

• Nationally accepted performance-based standards for the tornado-resistant design of buildings and infrastructure to ensure the resiliency of communities to tornado hazards;
• Standards for designing and constructing essential buildings — such as hospitals and emergency operations centers — and infrastructure to remain operational in the event of a tornado;
• Design methods that will ensure all building components and systems meet the proposed performance objectives;
• Uniform national guidelines that enable communities to create safe and effective public sheltering strategies; and
• Nationally accepted codes and standards, as well as uniform guidance for clear, consistent and accurate emergency communications.

The report also includes a number of recommendations for future research and development of technologies and strategies to advance tornado wind measurements, strengthen emergency communications, increase warning time, create more accurate tornado hazard maps and improve public response during tornado events.

The NIST Joplin tornado study was the first to study scientifically a tornado in terms of four key aspects: storm characteristics, building performance, human behavior, and emergency communication — and then assess the impact of each on preventing injury or death. It also is the first to recommend that standards and model codes be developed and adopted for designing buildings to better resist tornadoes.

The tornado in Joplin was rated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Weather Service (NWS) as category EF 5, the most powerful on the Enhanced Fujita scale. The massive storm impacted an area twenty-two miles) long, destroyed some 8,000 structures in its path, and killed 161 people. This makes it the single deadliest tornado in the United States in the sixty years that official records have been kept.

See here for additional information about the tornado event and the NIST investigation.

— Read more in Technical Investigation of the May 22, 2011, Tornado in Joplin, Missouri (NIST, 26 March 2014)