JOPLIN – The death toll from a monster tornado that savaged Joplin, Missouri rose to 125 yesterday as tornadoes overnight in nearby states caused at least 13 more deaths.
Bulldozers pushed through rubble in Joplin and search teams pressed through a six-mile-long (9.6km) path of destruction looking for survivors and more victims, authorities said. At least 823 people were injured by the tornado that hit on Sunday at dinner time, and an estimated 1,500 remain missing.
Eight died in Oklahoma, while Arkansas officials confirmed three deaths, and two were confirmed in Kansas from a line of several tornadoes that roared across the midwest overnight. As the storm system moved eastward, Arkansas, northern Mississippi, southern Illinois and Indiana were at the highest risk for devastating tornadoes yesterday, according to AccuWeather.com.
The Joplin tornado was rated an EF-5, the highest possible on the Enhanced Fujita scale of tornado power and intensity, with winds of at least 200 miles per hour (328 km/h).
EF-5 tornadoes are rare in the US but already this year there have been at least four. They are so destructive that experts said they can turn a house into a missile.
Authorities in Joplin established checkpoints and issued permits to allow homeowners to return to demolished sites to try to recover valuables.
So far 823 people have been treated for storm-related injuries, both in area hospitals and in a temporary medical centre set up in the town’s concert hall that used equipment salvaged from the town’s heavily damaged main hospital.
Doctors described grabbing supplies as they ran to safety on Sunday night. “We took everything that wasn’t bolted down,” said St John physician Sean Smith.
In Newcastle, south of Oklahoma City, a storm blew the steeple off Jesus Alive Church and flung it nearly 100 yards (90 metres) away.
About 10,000 people spent the night at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport where golfball-size hail was reported, according to airport spokeswoman Sarah McDaniel.– (Reuters)