Kathryn Piotrowski	Jeff Piotrowski

By Carole Liston
CNHI News Service

JOPLIN, Mo. - Jeff and Kathryn Piotrowski of Tulsa, Okla., are a rare breed of daredevil known as storm chasers. They risk death to record violent weather so others might live.

But even they had not seen anything like the monster tornado that ravaged Joplin on May 22, with winds ranging beyond 200 mph.

The Piotrowskis came face-to-face with the twister that killed 141 as it approached Joplin around dinner time, and they survived to tell about it.

Their stark video of the gathering storm has been viewed thousands of times on websites, television stations and the Weather Channel. (Click this YouTube link to view video: http://tinyurl.com/3vk43zj)

Piotrowski said he's been chasing big storms for 35 years, and has witnessed hundreds of tornadoes, recording them for meterological research and to warn communities in the path of destruction.

So when he drove his Doppler radar-equipped van into Joplin on State Highway 171 around 5:30 p.m. that fateful Sunday, he expected danger but nothing like the swirling green-black sky in his rear-view mirror.

A check of his computers and the Baron Tornado Index, which predicts the likelihood of twisters, showed the storm at 9.9 on a 10 point rating scale.

Then he spotted a large debris cloud forming around the bowl of the storm, and it was only two miles away.

"All the parameters said something horrible was going to come into Joplin," recalled Piotrowski. "I knew something horrible was about to unfold right in front of me."

His wife videotaping the storm from the rear of the van, Piotrowski said he focused on getting out alive and warning others to take cover.

"I've got debris on the ground," he hollered. "I've got debris on the ground right here."

Piotrowski said he drove as fast as he could to stay ahead of the tornado, spotting two policemen at the corner of Seventh Street and Black Cat Road near the edge of the city. He urged them to sound the tornado warning sirens.

"The tornadoes are trying to come down right here," he recalled telling them. "Get the sirens going, get the sirens going."

The officers called the city's emergency center, and the wailing sound of the sirens filled the air moments later.

It was the second siren warning. The first had been issued 10 minutes earlier, out of earshot of the Piotrowskis.

In retrospect, said Piotroski, the second warning probably saved scores of lives, reminding people that this was not a storm to take lightly.

Keith Stammer, Joplin's emergency management director, said he had been monitoring the storm from weather reports, 911 calls and reports from spotters such as the Piotrowskis.

Normally, he said, he wouldn't send out a second warning for fear some people might interpret it to mean an all-clear signal.

Stammer said he did so this time because "this one wasn't going away. All indicators and reports in the field said it was strengthening."

Piotrowski, meanwhile, drove about looking for a better view of the tornado, all the time urging his wife to keep videotaping.

Excerpted dialogue from their taped conversation captures the drama of the scary moments.

"Stay with it Kathryn, stay with it," urged Piotrowski. "We're going right down toward it."

"Oh, crap," his wife yelled. "Why are you doing that?"

"Because we don't have no other roads," replied Piotrowski. "It's a large tornado, a maxi-wedge on the ground. Oh, my God."

Piotrowski said he then turned away from the tornado, racing east of it as the twister raged into Joplin. He said debris was flying everywhere.

"It's tearing up the entire city on the south side of Joplin right now," he is heard to say on the tape. "This is Jeff Piotrowski, storm chaser, and it's a massive tornado doing massive destruction."

At that point, Piotrowski parked the van north of Joplin High School, which was destroyed a few minutes later. After the tornado passed, the Piotrowskis emerged from their van, observing destruction as far as the eye could see.

Then, said Piotrowski, the houses began to cry.

Whimpers at first, he added, then sobs. Within moments the sobs became a chorus of pleas for help and screams of pain, he said.

The Piotrowskis said they quickly became first responders, doing what they could to free trapped survivors.

Amber Munson woke up face down in mud beside her home. Piotrowski helped her up, wiped her face and assured he she had survived.

"It was like a scene out of a movie," said Munson. "The Piotrowskis were my guardian angels."

Piotrowski said he next hurried to a nearby group home for the disabled, finding three men lying in the rubble. He checked the first for a pulse, but found none. The second was suffering from a severe head injury and alive. So was the third but could not be moved without assistance.

Piotrowski said his throat tightened and he fought back tears, proceeding to help a woman trapped upside down in her wheelchair, clutching two small dogs. He said he dug her out of the debris by hand.

Soon, he said, emergency rescue vehicles arrived on the chaotic scene, providing medical help and removing the seriously injured to area hospitals.

The Piotrowskis said the May 22 tornado had a greater emotional impact on them than any other storm they've chased after over the years.

"We became part of Joplin that night," said his wife. "We will never be the same."
---
Carole Liston covered the tornado for the Joplin, Mo., Globe.

Amber Munson, rescued by storm chaser Jeff Piotrowski, throws her arms around two other survivors right after the Joplin tornado hit their neighborhood May 22. (Photo by Jeff Piotrowski)