Twister kills at least 89 in Missouri
Source: Agencies |
May 24, 2011, Tuesday
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A MASSIVE tornado that tore a 10-kilometer path across the US southwestern Missouri killed at least 89 people as it slammed into the city of Joplin, ripping into a hospital, crushing cars like soda cans and leaving a forest of splintered tree trunks behind where entire neighborhoods once stood.
Authorities warned that the death toll could climb as search and rescue workers continued their efforts. Their task was made more miserable as a new thunderstorm with strong winds, heavy rain pelted part of the city with hail.
City manager Mark Rohr announced the number of known dead at a pre-dawn news conference yesterday outside the wreckage of a hospital that took a direct hit from Sunday's storm.
Rohr said the twister cut a path nearly 10 kilometers long and more than a kilometer wide through the center of town. Much of the city's south side was leveled, with churches, schools, businesses and homes reduced to ruins.
Jasper County emergency management director Keith Stammer said about 2,000 buildings were damaged, while Joplin fire chief Mitch Randles estimated the damage covered a quarter or more of the city of about 50,000 people some 260 kilometers south of Kansas City. He said his home was among those destroyed.
An unknown number of people were injured, and officials said patients were scattered to any nearby hospitals that could take them. Officers from the city and neighboring towns and counties manned virtually every major intersection.
A series of gas leaks caused fires around the city overnight, and Governor Jay Nixon said some were still burning early yesterday. Nixon feared the death toll would rise but also expected survivors to be found. "I don't think we're done counting," Nixon said, adding, "I still believe that because of the size of the debris and the number of people involved that there are lives to be saved."
Crews found bodies in vehicles the storm had flipped over, torn apart and left crushed like empty cans. Triage centers and temporary shelters quickly filled to capacity. After daybreak, survivors picked through the rubble of their homes.
Kelley Fritz, 45, of Joplin, rummaged through the remains of a storage building with her husband, Jimmy. They quickly realized they would never find the belongings they stored there. They had lost much of what was in their home after the tornado ripped away the roof. Their sons, aged 20 and 17, both Eagle Scouts, went outside after the storm.
"My sons had deceased children in their arms when they came back," Fritz said. "My husband and I went out and saw two or three dead bodies on the ground."
Greg Carbin, a meteorologist for the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, estimated that the tornado that hit Joplin had winds of 217 to 266 kilometers per hour.
Authorities warned that the death toll could climb as search and rescue workers continued their efforts. Their task was made more miserable as a new thunderstorm with strong winds, heavy rain pelted part of the city with hail.
City manager Mark Rohr announced the number of known dead at a pre-dawn news conference yesterday outside the wreckage of a hospital that took a direct hit from Sunday's storm.
Rohr said the twister cut a path nearly 10 kilometers long and more than a kilometer wide through the center of town. Much of the city's south side was leveled, with churches, schools, businesses and homes reduced to ruins.
Jasper County emergency management director Keith Stammer said about 2,000 buildings were damaged, while Joplin fire chief Mitch Randles estimated the damage covered a quarter or more of the city of about 50,000 people some 260 kilometers south of Kansas City. He said his home was among those destroyed.
An unknown number of people were injured, and officials said patients were scattered to any nearby hospitals that could take them. Officers from the city and neighboring towns and counties manned virtually every major intersection.
A series of gas leaks caused fires around the city overnight, and Governor Jay Nixon said some were still burning early yesterday. Nixon feared the death toll would rise but also expected survivors to be found. "I don't think we're done counting," Nixon said, adding, "I still believe that because of the size of the debris and the number of people involved that there are lives to be saved."
Crews found bodies in vehicles the storm had flipped over, torn apart and left crushed like empty cans. Triage centers and temporary shelters quickly filled to capacity. After daybreak, survivors picked through the rubble of their homes.
Kelley Fritz, 45, of Joplin, rummaged through the remains of a storage building with her husband, Jimmy. They quickly realized they would never find the belongings they stored there. They had lost much of what was in their home after the tornado ripped away the roof. Their sons, aged 20 and 17, both Eagle Scouts, went outside after the storm.
"My sons had deceased children in their arms when they came back," Fritz said. "My husband and I went out and saw two or three dead bodies on the ground."
Greg Carbin, a meteorologist for the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, estimated that the tornado that hit Joplin had winds of 217 to 266 kilometers per hour.
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