In Joplin, Mo., at least 30 people are reportedly killed and damage is widespread. Officials fear the death toll could climb much higher. Severe weather hits other parts of the Midwest, including Minneapolis, where one person is killed.
Joplin, Mo. —
A series of turbulent storms swept through the Midwest on Sunday as a powerful tornado slammed into Joplin, Mo., ripping the top off a hospital, shearing parts of the roof off a high school and turning major retail stores into heaps of rubble and twisted metal.
A coroner's official reported at least 30 people dead in Joplin, according to Reuters news agency, but the tornado's rampage through the middle of the southwestern Missouri town of 50,000 left officials concerned that the number could be much higher.
"It's total devastation," Gov. Jay Nixon said as he dispatched the National Guard and emergency rescue teams in a race to find survivors. Search-and-rescue efforts were expected to continue throughout the uneasy night.
"We are responding aggressively, quickly. We want to make sure as the night goes on that we're saving lives between now and dawn," the governor told CNN. "There are a number of injuries. It's going to be a long night and a difficult recovery."
President Obama said the Federal Emergency Management Agency was responding. "We commend the heroic efforts by those who have responded and who are working to help their friends and neighbors at this very difficult time," he said.
Phone service in and out of the city was largely cut off.
Missouri State Highway Patrol spokesman Lt. John Hotz said the state had dispatched 50 state troopers and a mobile communications unit in an attempt to learn the extent of the damage and injuries. Another 19 officers would be en route in the morning, he said."It's a serious situation, but I can't give you an assessment of the damage or the injuries until we get reports," he said.
"Certainly, we are doing everything we can to get help to the folks in the affected areas as soon as possible."
Hotz said there were reports of "a number" of tornados across Missouri.
In Minneapolis, a tornado tore through the northern end of the city Sunday afternoon, killing one person and injuring at least 30 others. The same turbulent weather spawned a tornado in Reading, Kan., Saturday night that killed one person and destroyed about 20 homes as parts of the town were pelted with hail the size of golf balls.
Violent thunderstorms, including lighting, hail and powerful winds, were threats throughout the evening Sunday across at least six Midwestern states as a cold front moved in to confront a moisture-rich, low-level air mass, the National Weather Service warned.
The tornado that struck Joplin at 5:45 p.m. threatened to rival the devastating twisters that plowed through the South on April 27, leaving more than 330 people dead, including 45 in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Joplin residents said the twister slammed through a town already keeping a close eye on the boiling, dark clouds blustering overhead, blowing over 18-wheel tractor-trailers on Interstate 44 and ripping directly into St. John's Regional Medical Center, blasting medical debris for miles.
"It sounds like they got a direct hit," said Laurie Duff, spokeswoman for a hospital in Springfield, Mo., where patients from
Joplin were being evacuated. "The second hospital in town also sustained some damage."
Triage centers and shelters were set up around Joplin. At Memorial Hall, a downtown entertainment venue, nurses and other
emergency workers from area hospitals were treating critically injured patients.
The storm spread debris about 60 miles away, with medical records, X-rays, insulation and other items landing in Greene
County, said Larry Woods, assistant director of the Springfield-Greene County Office of Emergency Management.
"It looks like a war zone," said Donald Davis, a chemotherapy nurse who was dining 35 miles away in Kansas when the tornado
struck in Joplin, where he has lived much of his life. He said he contended with closed roads and downed power lines for
nearly two hours to return home, where he found a scene of devastation in the center of the city.
It looked as if the tornado had traveled directly down 20th Street, Joplin's main east-west thoroughfare, and at least 13
blocks to the east, he said in a telephone interview.
"Just up and down 20th Street, it's just building after building. Houses destroyed. One of our largest grocery stores,
destroyed. And there's a big apartment complex right next to it, probably had 150 apartments in it, it's flattened. Several
churches gone. And big, nice homes — all just gone," he said.
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