Seeking for Tornado Survivors in Missouri

Seeking for Tornado Survivors in Missouri

A massive tornado tore down residents’ homes in a small town of United States which killed at least 89 people.

Weather officials say the tornado hit the town of Joplin, Missouri at dinnertime on Sunday (local time). It left a path of destruction nearly 1 kilometre wide through the heart of the town, which has 50,000 residents.

Rescue crews from the region have been working all night and all morning, searching for anyone still alive in the rubble. An unknown number of people are injured and officials say they expect to find more bodies as they dig through collapsed homes and businesses.

The tornado tore the roof of St. John’s Hospital, about 180 patients, and 2,000 homes and other buildings were destroyed. It flattened whole neighbourhoods, splintered trees, flipped cars and trucks upside down and into each other.

Newton County coroner Mark Bridges said that a number of bodies were found along the city's restaurant row, and a local nursing home took a direct hit.

Jasper County emergency management director Keith Stammers said the residents of the city were given about 20 minutes notice when 25 warning sirens sounded throughout the south-west Missouri town. But Missouri governor Jay Nixon says many people were probably not able to get to a safe shelter in time. "The bottom line was the storm was so loud you probably couldn't hear the sirens going off," he said. He has declared a state of emergency and called out the Missouri National Guard to help.

"The loss of life is incredible," Joplin mayor Mike Woolston said. "We're still trying to find people. The outlook is pretty bleak." Two refrigerated trucks were brought in to serve as a make-shift morgue at a local university and more were being brought in to handle the additional bodies expected, the coroner said.

Joplin city council woman Melodee Colbert-Kean, who serves as vice mayor, says the town is in a state of "chaos." "It is just utter devastation anywhere you look to the south and the east - businesses, apartment complexes, houses, cars, trees, schools, you name it, it is levelled, levelled," she said.

President Barack Obama extended his condolences to the families of Joplin by calling the governor.

The tornado is the latest powerful twister that has caused deaths and destruction in the past few weeks.

Posted by M.Ferrer on Tuesday May 24 2011, 12:54 AM EST. Ref: Reuters. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, World. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0