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| Emergency personnel walk through a neighborhood severely damaged by a tornado near the Joplin Regional Medical Center in Joplin, Mo., Sunday, May 22. A large tornado moved through much of the city, damaging a hospital and hundreds of homes and businesses. Mark Schiefelbein / AP |
Severe storms and tornadoes have claimed at least 13 lives in the
central United States, just two days after scores of people were killed
in nearby Missouri, in the deadliest tornado to hit the nation in more
than 60 years.
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| A United States flag tied to a tree branch waves in the wind over a business building destroyed by a tornado in Joplin, Missouri. Search teams accompanied by cadaver dogs on Tuesday picked their way through the rubble of thousands of homes and businesses laid to waste by the massive tornado, May 24, 2011. Reuters |
Emergency officials reported the latest deaths in
the states of Oklahoma, Kansas and Arkansas as at least three dozen more
tornadoes ripped through the region Tuesday and into the early hours of
Wednesday. The storms, accompanied by baseball-sized hail, toppled
trees, crushed cars and tore apart a rural fire station.
The latest tornadoes bypassed the devastated city of Joplin, Missouri that was struck Sunday by the single deadliest tornado to hit the U.S. since 1947. The death toll in the city of 50,000 residents has hit 123 and is expected to climb further. Local authorities said about 1,500 people are unaccounted for, but cautioned that the number likely includes many people who have not been able to reach friends and family because of spotty cell phone service.
The death toll from the tornadoes this week, along with more than 300 killed by other tornadoes in recent weeks in the southern U.S., has pushed the year's total to more than 500, the highest number of U.S. tornado deaths since 1953, when 519 were recorded.
U.S. President Barack Obama says he will travel to Joplin on Sunday. Speaking during a visit to London Tuesday, Obama pledged that the federal government will use all available resources to help the victims recover and rebuild.
Rescue workers in the Missouri city continued to search through the devastation on Wednesday in hopes of finding more trapped survivors. Cheers erupted Tuesday when volunteers heard that another person had been found alive.
The latest tornadoes bypassed the devastated city of Joplin, Missouri that was struck Sunday by the single deadliest tornado to hit the U.S. since 1947. The death toll in the city of 50,000 residents has hit 123 and is expected to climb further. Local authorities said about 1,500 people are unaccounted for, but cautioned that the number likely includes many people who have not been able to reach friends and family because of spotty cell phone service.
The death toll from the tornadoes this week, along with more than 300 killed by other tornadoes in recent weeks in the southern U.S., has pushed the year's total to more than 500, the highest number of U.S. tornado deaths since 1953, when 519 were recorded.
U.S. President Barack Obama says he will travel to Joplin on Sunday. Speaking during a visit to London Tuesday, Obama pledged that the federal government will use all available resources to help the victims recover and rebuild.
Rescue workers in the Missouri city continued to search through the devastation on Wednesday in hopes of finding more trapped survivors. Cheers erupted Tuesday when volunteers heard that another person had been found alive.
VOA News
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