Perilous
Times and Climate Change
'Many dead' as chain of tornadoes rip through US Midwest
Tornadoes have ripped through parts of the US Midwest killing at
least one person in Minneapolis and dozens of others in the
Missouri town of Joplin.
Tornadoes have been causing havoc across the Midwest Photo: AP
4:30AM BST 23 May 2011
The Telegraph UK
Damage was widespread across the south side of Joplin, located
just miles from the borders of Kansas and Oklahoma. A local
hospital was among the buildings to take a "direct hit", reports
said.
The Springfield News-Leader, a local news website put the death
toll at 24.
"The Home Depot is levelled. The Walmart is destroyed. Gas
stations, buildings. Everywhere I could see was either heavily
damaged or completely destroyed," said John Miller, a freelance
photographer for the Springfield News-Leader said.
"I saw firefighters and paramedics pull a young girl out of a car
at the Home Depot," Mr Miller said. "Part of the building had
fallen on the car."
Jay Nixon, the state's governor, declared a state of emergency and
activated National Guard troops in response to what he described
as "significant destruction in multiple areas, including Joplin,
where a tornado struck St. John's Regional Medical Center."
"These storms have caused extensive damage across Missouri, and
they continue to pose significant risk to lives and property" he
said.
"As a state, we are deploying every agency and resource available
to keep Missouri families safe, search for the missing, provide
emergency medical care, and begin to recover."
US President Barack Obama has sent his "deepest condolences" to
victims of tornadoes.
"Michelle and I send our deepest condolences to the families of
all those who lost their lives in the tornadoes and severe weather
that struck Joplin, Missouri as well as communities across the
Midwest today," the president said in a statement sent from Air
Force One as he was flying to Europe.
"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," the president added.
Charles Bradley, Missouri State Highway Patrol dispatcher , said
the precise extent of the damage was not immediately known but it
appeared that the devastation could rival the destruction left by
a deadly twister that hit Tuscaloosa, Alabama, last month.
More than 30 people died in that storm.
Video carried on the Weather Channel showed extensive areas where
whole neighbourhoods had been levelled.
Steve Runnels, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in
Springfield, Missouri, near Joplin, said indications were that the
tornado was very powerful.
"We have reports of significant structural damage to strong
buildings," he said. "Automobiles have been flipped, bark was
stripped off trees."
The storm was part of a series that battered the Midwest on
Sunday. Tornado warnings and watches were posted from Texas to
Michigan.
In Minneapolis, city spokesman Sara Dietrich said one death was
confirmed by the medical examiner.
The storms came after a tornado on Saturday night that swept
through a small eastern Kansas town, killing one person and
destroying at least 20 homes, as severe thunderstorms pelted the
region with hail that some residents described as the size of
baseballs,.