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.Ī 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. More severe storms were predicted for the region, in a year that has brought tornadoes of record intensity across several states. There was nothing of that store left," she said. When the tornado passed, the store was destroyed but those inside were all alive.
"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 clutching one another as they prayed. Survivors told harrowing stories of seeking shelter from winds of nearly 200 miles per hour (322 kph) in walk-in coolers in restaurants and convenience stores, hiding in bathtubs and closets, and of running for their lives as the tornado neared. "We still believe there are folks alive under the rubble, and we're trying hard to reach them," Nixon said. Emergency crews searched through the night and through a thunderstorm with driving rain on Monday for additional survivors. Seven people trapped by the storm had been rescued, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon told reporters in Joplin. Weather officials said the twister that struck the city of 50,000 at dinner time on Sunday was the deadliest single tornado in the United States since 1947 and the ninth-deadliest tornado of all time.Īuthorities on Monday put the casualty toll at 116 dead and some 400 people hurt, many suffering severe internal injuries. Joplin: A monster tornado killed at least 116 people in Joplin, Missouri, when it tore through the heart of the small Midwestern city, ripping the roof off a hospital and destroying thousands of homes and businesses.
0 kommentar(er)
