Obama to mark one-year anniversary of Joplin tornado

President Obama will address Joplin High School’s graduating seniors in southwest Missouri late Monday, marking the one-year anniversary of the devastating tornado that destroyed an enormous path through the city and claimed 160 lives.

It was graduation night on May 22, 2011, too, when Joplin High School and more than 7,500 other buildings were destroyed by what has proven to be among the deadliest and costliest tornadoes in United States history. The EF5-rated storm was more than a mile wide and packed winds of more than 200 miles per hour. In Joplin and nearby Duquesne, the storm reduced schools, hospitals, businesses and homes to giant swaths of torn lumber and rubble.