Photos from Joplin, MO you won't see on the networks

I've battled high winds, hail, thunder, lightening, and rain for the past day and night, so turned my computer off. When I finally turned it back on a couple of hours ago, I found these images from one of my friends, who took these photos with her cell phone. All photos are from St. John's, but I have no idea how she got access to the building.


This is one of the side yards at St. John's Regional Medical Center. I doubt there are any windows left in the building.




Above you can see part of the administration building and how the windows are blown out of the inner offices.


This is one of the waiting rooms.


This is the outdoor cafeteria. It just goes to show the quirky nature of tornadoes. The iron railing is twisted like a piece of licorice, several of the concrete columns around the building are rubble, but the wooden fence, gate, and trees in this court yard are standing and undamaged.


More destruction.


Not only did the tornado take or uproot everything, the rain entering through the windows and ceilings kept the building in water most of yesterday, allowing the mold to grow among the mud and debris. At this point, structural engineers are determining if the building is safe. This hospital may never recover.


Of course, it was probably one of the safer places to be last Sunday. Note the trees are barren in the above photo, but there are leaves in the one two images up.



You wouldn't have been safe if you stood in this chair's path. I was told this is not a rotated photo. Instead, the chair is lodged in the wall.

I appreciate my friend sending these photos. The destruction is unreal, and that is just the building! Imagine all the lives that were affected in this hospital.