Oklahoma City and its surrounding areas were ravaged by a EF-4 tornado earlier this week that killed 24, including nine children, injured upwards of 200, and left numbers of families homeless.
But as the city and its suburbs begin to allocate funds and face rebuilding, one town - more than 200 miles away - has seen a tremendous rebound since their town was destroyed 2 years ago.
In 2011, a twister that clocked at more than 200 mph - making it an EF-5 - killed 161 people, injured over 1,000 and made nearly $3 billion worth of damage in Tornado Alley's very own Joplin, Mo.
Citizens of the city quietly gathered to celebrate the second anniversary of the tornado on Wednesday with a moment of silence, recounting the long and painful recovery efforts that have taken place since that terrible spring day.
According to BBC News, Joplin's revival has taken longer than expected. Some of the stalling is attributed to administration problems as those offices and services took time to gain their footing, too, but a considerable amount of the delays are due to fraudulent contractors that took advantage of vulnerable families.
One family wired nearly $55,000 to a contractor in Clark Baxter, Cali., and after one visit with the family, the contractors left and never came back.
Admittedly, Jane Cage, chairwoman of the Citizens Advisory Recovery Team, shared that much of Joplin still faces a long road ahead, but she's confident Joplin will emerge even better than it was before the storm, according to PBS reports.
Many in Joplin want to offer support to the families of Moore County because they understand first-hand what it means to lose everything.
Nearly 20,000 volunteers showed post-tornado devastation to help get Joplin back on its feet and today, 75 percent of the homes have been safely rebuilt along with 90 percent of the businesses open and ready for customers.
