By
Kevin Murphy
JOPLIN, Missouri Mon May 23, 2011 6:39pm EDT
(Reuters) - A monster tornado
killed at least 116 people in Joplin, Missouri when it tore through the heart
of the small city, ripping the roof off a hospital and destroying thousands of
homes and businesses.
Weather officials said the
tornado that hit the city of 50,000 at dinner time on Sunday was the deadliest
single tornado in the country since 1947 and the ninth-deadliest tornado of all
time, they said.
Emergency officials said on
Monday 116 people were killed and about 400 were injured. According to local
officials many had massive internal injuries.
Seven people had been rescued,
Missouri Governor Jay Nixon told reporters in Joplin. Emergency crews searched
through the night and through a thunderstorm with driving rain on Monday for
anyone left alive.
"We still believe there are
folks alive under the rubble and we're trying hard to reach them," Nixon
said.
Survivors told harrowing stories
of riding out winds of 190-198 mph in walk-in coolers in restaurants and
convenience stores, hiding in bathtubs and closets, and of running for their
lives as the tornado bore down.
"We were getting hit by
rocks and I don't even know what hit me," said Leslie Swatosh, 22, who
huddled on the floor of a liquor store with several others, holding onto each
other and praying.
When the tornado passed, the
store was destroyed but those inside were all alive. "Everyone in that
store was blessed. There was nothing of that store left," she said.
More severe storms were predicted
for the region, in a year that has brought tornadoes of record intensity across
several states. Further complicating the rescue effort, power lines were
downed, broken gas lines ignited fires, and cell phone communications were
spotty due to 17 toppled phone towers.
A number of bodies were found
along the city's "restaurant row," on the main commercial street and
a local nursing home took a direct hit, said Newton County Coroner Mark
Bridges.
Roaring along a path nearly six
miles long and about 1/2 mile to 3/4 mile wide, the tornado flattened whole
neighborhoods, splintered trees and flipped over cars and trucks. Some 2,000
homes and many other businesses, schools and other buildings were destroyed.
At St John's hospital 180
patients cowered as the fierce winds blew out windows and pulled off the roof.
According to AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist Alan Reppert, X-ray films
from the hospital were found 70 miles away.
20 MINUTES NOTICE
The city's residents were given
about 20 minutes' notice when 25 warning sirens sounded in the evening, said
Jasper County Emergency Management Director Keith Stammers.
Nixon said many people may have
been unable to get to shelter in time. "The bottom line was the storm was
so loud you probably couldn't hear the sirens going off." He declared a
state of emergency and called out the National Guard to help.
An estimated 20,000 homes and
businesses were without power in Joplin. To help with communications Verizon
Wireless, a unit of Verizon Communications Inc, said it was delivering three
temporary cell towers for emergency service.
The Joplin tornado was the latest
in a string of powerful twisters that has wreaked death and devastation across
many states, and it comes as much of the Mississippi River valley is underwater
from massive flooding.
1
of 20. A woman removes a rifle from the debris of a destroyed home
after a devastating tornado hit Joplin, Missouri May 23, 2011.
Credit: Reuters/Mike
Stone
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