US tornado hits Joplin, Missouri, 116 dead
Baku, May 24 (AZERTAC). A monster tornado nearly a mile (1.5 km) wide 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.
U.S. weather officials said the tornado that hit the city of 50,000 at dinnertime on Sunday was deadliest single tornado in the country since 1953.
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 have been rescued, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon told a news conference in Joplin. Emergency crews searched through the night and through Monday`s driving rain and thunderstorm for anyone left alive.
Storm survivors told harrowing stories of riding out the winds of 190-198 mph (306-318 kph) 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 who had ducked 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.
"We still believe there are folks alive under the rubble and we`re trying hard to reach them," Nixon said.
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, Newton County Coroner Mark Bridges said.
Roaring along a path nearly six miles (9.5 km) long and about 1/2 mile to 3/4 mile (1 km) wide, the tornado flattened whole neighborhoods, splintered trees, flipped cars and trucks upside down and into each other. 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 in a driveway.
The city`s residents were given about 20 minutes` notice when 25 warning sirens sounded throughout the southwest Missouri town around 6 p.m. CDT, said Jasper County Emergency Management Director Keith Stammers.
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